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Court reinstates road ban in national forests

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009604635_apusroadlessforests.html

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON —
A federal appeals court Wednesday blocked road construction in more than 50 million acres of pristine national forests.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a 2001 rule put in place by President Bill Clinton just before he left office that prohibited commercial logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of national forest in 38 states and Puerto Rico. A subsequent Bush administration rule had cleared the way for more commercial activity there.

The latest ruling, issued in San Francisco, sides with several Western states and environmental groups that sued the Forest Service after it reversed the so-called "Roadless Rule" in 2005.

The Obama administration has ordered a one-year moratorium on most road-building in national forests. A May 28 directive by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack gives him sole decision-making authority over all proposed forest management or road construction projects in designated roadless areas in all states except Idaho.

Idaho was one of two states that developed its own roadless rule under the 2005 Bush policy, which gave states more control over whether and how to block road-building in remote forests.

Environmental advocates hailed the 9th Circuit ruling, which they said was needed even though Bush is no longer in office.

"This is a huge step. It puts the roadless rule back in place," said Kristen Boyles, a lawyer for the environmental group Earthjustice, which represented a coalition of environmental groups in the case.

Boyles, who has fought for nearly eight years to uphold the 2001 roadless rule, said the 9th Circuit ruling "is what we need to be able to have the protection on the ground for the last wild places and for hikers and campers."

Justin DeJong, a spokesman for Vilsack, said "the Obama administration supports conservation of roadless areas in our national forests, and this decision today reaffirms the protection of these resources."

Last month, Vilsack approved a timber sale in a roadless area of Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The sale allows Pacific Log and Lumber to clear-cut about 380 acres in the Tongass, the largest federal forest. About nine miles of roads will be constructed to allow the logging.

Bigshooter:
I like the fact that no new roads will be built, but don't like the fact that no commercial logging will take place.  I use to hunt a lot of national forest but with the lack of new clear cuts it has hurt the game populations.  Not much grows under standing dead old growth that deer and elk like to eat.

Kain:
Does this stop them from maintaining existing roads?  I went to the Siouxon this weekend and it was terrible.  Lots of washouts and pot holes you could loose your truck in.  There are almost no new clear cuts and a lot of the main roads are starting to get grown over.  I grew up hunting this unit and now it is almost worthless to even go there.  Just gonna push more of us into the same units.

johnsc6:
yes, it prevents them from maintaining roads.  They don't have the money.  If the FS cannot build roads and harvest the trees (renewable resource) before it rots, they don't have any income, counting frogs and flowers doesn't bring in money, or increase wildlife populations...sucks........

logger:
this burns my ass to no end,first thing is they need to reduce thier workforce by 60% and then go back to what the forest service was origanlly supposed to do in the first place. I think that since they don't log anymore they have taken on alota crap to justify their exsitence.Most roads nowdays built for logging are reclaimed afterwords anyway except on most private ground where they realize the road cost themselves.

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