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Roadless forest protection enjoys strong public support

by REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso
published August 29, 2003 in the Tacoma News Tribune

It's been a long, hot summer for one of the most popular land-protection policies ever adopted.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was adopted in 2001 after the public gave a big thumbs-up in the biggest outpouring of support for a conservation policy in American history. Two years later, the rule protecting America's last wild forests can't get any respect.

The rule protecting 58.5 million acres of national forest roadless areas will no longer apply to nearly 15 million acres in Alaska, if a recent Bush administration exemption proposal is adopted later this year. Tuesday is the public comment deadline for the proposal.

In addition, the administration has proposed a change allowing lower-48 governors to request exemptions for roadless areas in their states.

Last month, a Wyoming federal court blocked implementation of the rule in a puzzling decision that contradicted an earlier appeals court decision upholding the rule. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer's order is being appealed.

Why are national forest roadless areas special? National forests, owned by every citizen, cover 191 million acres in 41 states, including Washington. About half of national forests are roaded and open for commercial uses, including timber harvest, oil and gas production, mineral extraction and commercial recreation.

The other half is made up of unroaded wildlands. Nearly 35 million acres are protected in wilderness areas designated by Congress. The remaining 58.5 million roadless acres lack permanent protection.

"Inventoried" roadless lands include 213,000 acres in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, south of Mount Rainier, and 415,000 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, including scattered parcels in eastern Pierce County.

Unprotected roadless areas are undeveloped for a reason: Many are in remote backcountry where logging would be uneconomical.

Building timber roads into roadless areas would add to the taxpayers' burden. The U.S. Forest Service, with a road-maintenance backlog exceeding $8 billion, can't afford to take care of its existing road network, let alone new roads.

In Washington alone, the road-maintenance backlog is nearly $280 million, according to a 2002 study by Taxpayers for Common Sense, an independent fiscal watchdog. In Alaska's Tongass National Forest, where the administration wants to open 300,000 acres of old-growth trees to logging, the backlog exceeds $800 million.

Former Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck had a better idea than turning roadless areas into money-losing tree plantations: Set them aside as a permanent endowment. Roadless areas deliver high-value environmental services just as they are in several ways:

* Roadless areas provide pure drinking water to millions of people.
* Roadless areas serve as habitat strongholds for valuable species, including salmon and steelhead. Wildlife is better off in the absence of roads, which shrink habitat and bleed sediment into streams.
* Roadless areas are bulwarks that deter the spread of invasive weeds. The Forest Service estimates that 400,000 acres of Northwest national forest lands are afflicted with noxious plants.
* Roadless areas are great places to hunt, fish, watch birds or camp. As the population grows and as national parks feel the pressure of heavy use, roadless areas in national forests are alternative places to enjoy the great outdoors.

But not everyone sees the forest for the trees. After Dombeck's roadless protection rule was adopted in 2001, timber and off-road vehicle interests went to court. The U.S. Justice Department offered a weak defense of a rule the Bush administration clearly does not like. In May 2001, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge blocked the rule.

A federal appeals court overturned Lodge's decision last December. Judge Brimmer's recent decision held that the rule created de facto wilderness areas, which only Congress may designate under the 1964 Wilderness Act.

However, Brimmer's decision overlooked the clear differences between Wilderness Act protections and those provided by the roadless rule. Motorized recreation, for example, is never allowed in a wilderness area but is permitted in many roadless areas.

Fortunately, protecting roadless areas continues to enjoy strong public support. Bipartisan legislation codifying the rule has been introduced in Congress. Whether public and congressional support will prevent a bureaucratic mugging of the rule remains unclear, however.

Keeping roadless areas wild would be a fitting centennial tribute to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, the visionary conservationist who quadrupled acreage protected in national forests. He said that "forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people."

The majority agrees. Citizens have told their leaders repeatedly that America's last wild forests must be protected permanently. It's time for the administration to finally respect the public's wishes.