Taxpayers for Common Sense: Forest Service Budget Reform Campaign: Gutting the Roadless Rule

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Timber Sales

Tongass Forest Campaign

National Forest Road Building

Fire Management

Forest Service Budget Reform Campaign

Gutting the Roadless Rule

Overview

On July 12, 2004, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman made a long-anticipated announcement about federal management of roadless areas in national forests. In a reversal of the Clinton administration's 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, management of roadless areas will now again be dictated by individual forest's management plans, effectively opening 58.5 million acres to new roads, timbering, and energy development.

Under the administration's plan, individual governor's will be allowed to petition the Secretary of Agriculture to create a statewide roadless management plan. This process is not required, the Secretary is not bound to accept a governor's request, and there is nothing to stop governor's from petitioning for weaker rules on roadless areas than exist under the current forest management plans.

In the end, federal taxpayers stand to lose. Every year, the timber industry receives massive taxpayer-funded subsidies for road building and logging. With tens of millions more acres available for such activities, the subsidies are certain to grow.

The public comment period for the new proposal expired on November 15, 2005. A decision is expected sometime early in the new year.

Resources

Economist Letter: 117 economists sign on to oppose rule changes (pdf)

TCS Factsheet: "Roadless Area Protection Makes Sense for Taxpayers" (pdf)

TCS Report: "Lost in the Forest: How the Forest Service's Misdirection, Mismanagement, and Mischief Squanders Your Tax Dollars"

TCS Report: "Road Wrecked: Why the Forest Service Road Maintenance Backlog is Bad for Taxpayers"

Public Register Notice of the Interim Directive

For the next 18 months, all roadless national forest lands will remain roadless unless a project is approved by the head of the Forest Service.

Public Register Notice of New Rule

During this 18-month interim period, governor's may petition the Secretary of Agriculture to determine how roadless areas will be managed. Once the interim period has ended, management of roadless areas will be dictated by forest-level management plans, essentially reverting back to how management was conducted previous to the 2001 rule. The Secretary has discretion over whether a governor's petition to amend management of roadless areas is accepted, and a governor may petition to make make management more or less protective.

Roadless Area Conservation Rule (old rule)

Department of Agriculture Roadless Webpage

651 Pennsylvania Ave, SE | Washington, DC 20003 | 1-800-taxpayer | fax: 202-546-8511