National Forest 'Roadless' Areas

Background on the Roadless Area Conservation Rule

In January 1998, the U.S. Forest Service proposed a temporary moratorium on roadbuilding in the nation's "roadless areas" while it undertook a comprehensive environmental impact study of permanently protecting these areas. After three years of intense review, which included over 600 public hearings and 1.6 million public comments with hundreds of eminent scientists, economists and religious leaders favoring protection, the agency adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Tally of comments from the South
Read the letter from US scientists (pdf; 19 pages)
Read the letter from US economists (pdf; 5 pages)
Fact sheet about the rule (pdf; 2 pages)

The rule was signed by the Secretary of Agriculture on January 12, 2001, and was due to go into effect two months later. However, immediately upon taking office, President Bush delayed implementation of the rule, and began a series of legal and administrative efforts to gut it.

In 2004, the Administration put forth a proposal to replace the conservation rule with an "opt-in" process requiring state governors to petition the Agriculture Secretary for protection of the roadless areas in their states, with no guarantee the Secretary would accept the petition in part or in whole. When the public comment period on the proposal ended, the Forest Service had heard from a record-breaking 1.5 million citizens – including 12 governors, among them Virginia Governor Mark Warner, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, and Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen – telling the government to stick with the conservation rule that permanently protected America’s roadless areas. In addition, 127 environmental scientists wrote in support of the rule, and 115 economists said that allowing roadbuilding for logging and mining in roadless areas is economic folly when the Forest Service has an $8.4 billion maintenance backlog on the existing 380,000 miles of roads in the national forest system.

Nonetheless, the Administration finalized the "opt-in" rule in 2005. It was subsequently challenged by several national environmental groups. In September 2006, a federal judge in California threw out the Bush rule, saying it violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. Now the Bush Administration, joined by the timber industry, is appealing that ruling.

Meanwhile, in Congress, bills have been introduced in both houses since 2003 that seek to codify the original conservation rule, which would secure it against attack from this or future administrations. The Southern congressional delegation has played a key role in supporting these bills, with Senator John Warner of Virginia taking the lead numerous times on introduction. The 2007 bill garnered support from 130 members, including 14 from the Southeast.

While protecting the last one-third of our threatened national forest lands from most logging and road-building, the 2007 bills allow new roads to be constructed in order to fight fires and ensure public health and safety.

National Forest	% of Forest in Roadless Acres	Comments on Roadless Rule
Bankhead (AL)	0%	7,925
Talladega (AL)	5.6%	included with Bankhead
Cherokee (TN)	13.4%	19,783
GW/Jeff (VA and WV)	22%	93,008
Pisgah/Nantahala (NC)	14.6%	52,153
Sumter (SC) Andrew Pickens RD	7.3%	10,228
Chattahoochee (GA)	8.6%	75,533
TOTAL	15.3%	258,630

Back