U.S. Department of Agriculture Ends Popular Roadless Rule
New policy would end federal Protection for Washington's Roadless Forests
BOISE, ID -- Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service announced its intent to repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and substitute it with a state petition process. Environmentalists, recreationists, and businesses around the country charge that this proposal will effectively eliminate all federal safeguards provided by the Roadless Rule and makes roadless areas vulnerable to road-building and commercial logging. The policy change was announced in Boise, Idaho and will reportedly appear in the Federal Register later this week.
"The Forest Service proposal fails to ensure that a single acre of the 58.5 million acres of roadless forests will be protected," said Tom Uniack, Conservation Director for Washington Wilderness Coalition, who also indicated that more than two million acres of roadless forests are at stake in Washington State. "Governors would need to petition for protection of existing roadless areas by a mandated deadline - and even then the Forest Service does not have to grant them the protection requested."
The proposal would require governors to petition the USDA Forest Service to protect roadless areas in their states. However, the USDA does not have to adopt the petitions, as stated in a regulatory schedule released last week, "Such petitions would be evaluated and, if agreed to, addressed by the Secretary in a subsequent rulemaking on a State-by-State basis." Furthermore, if a governor chooses not to submit a petition the management of roadless areas would revert to the direction of local forest plans, which allow road-building and logging on most of the 58 million acres of roadless areas.
Continue reading this press release from Washington Wilderness Coalition:
Bush Administration Ends Popular Roadless Rule
