Overview of
Forest Service Initiatives
January 2000
Roadless Areas, Existing Road Management, and
Forest Planning
The proposed roadless area initiative, road
management policy, and planning rule are three separate and distinct Forest
Service initiatives that together form a coherent strategy for dealing with
vital conservation issues.
Together, the roadless area initiative and road management policy form a
two part strategy for addressing national and local concerns about the future of
roadless areas and the existing national forest road system. The roadless area initiative addresses
those areas that do not already have roads. The road management policy addresses the
more than 380,000 miles of road already in the national forest transportation
system.
Similarly, if the three initiatives are
adopted, the planning rule would provide the overarching framework for
implementing the roadless area proposal and roads policy. All of these initiatives seek to provide
for long-term sustainability, ensure collaboration with the public, integrate
science into the process, and incorporate new information and
opportunities.
Roadless Area
Initiative
In
October 1999, President Clinton asked the Forest Service to begin an open public
process to address how roadless areas within the national forest system would be
managed in the future. Roadless
areas have typically remained without roads because of inaccessibility, rugged
terrain, low timber values, or environmental concerns. Addressing this issue is important
because:
The Forest Service released a notice of
intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on October
19,1999 and proposed a two part process.
Part one would restrict certain activities, such as new road
construction, in inventoried roadless areas. Part two would establish national
direction for managing inventoried roadless areas, and for determining whether
and to what extent similar protections should be extended to uninventoried
roadless areas. Both part one and
part two would be implemented with extensive public involvement. Part two would be implemented through
local forest planning.
On December 20, 1999, the Forest Service
concluded a comment period on the scope of the proposal. During this comment period, the agency
hosted an unprecedented 190 regional and local public meetings and received more
than 400,000 comments. The Forest
Service is now preparing a draft environmental impact statement that will detail
the agency’s proposal and its likely effects. The agency plans to conduct another
comment period and series of public meetings when it releases the draft
environmental impact statement and a proposed rule in May 2000. The agency plans to release a final
environmental impact statement and regulation before the end of
2000.
Proposed Road Management
Policy
This policy would revise how the Forest
Service manages the more than 380,000 miles of road already in the national
forest transportation system. A
draft rule and procedures will be released for public review in coming
weeks. The policy is intended to:
Proposed Planning Rule
The
proposed planning rule would rewrite the existing Forest Service regulations
implementing the National Forest Management Act. The proposed rule is based on
the recommendations of a Committee of Scientists and 20 years of experience
implementing forest planning. The rule:
Last fall the Forest Service hosted a series
of 23 town meetings across the country to discuss the proposed planning
rule. The agency will continue to
accept written comments on the proposed rule until the comment period closes
February 3, 2000.