Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
March 3, 2000 Friday 2D EDITION
SECTION: DENVER & THE WEST; Pg. B-08
LENGTH: 528 words
HEADLINE:
Forest Service may curtail roads
BYLINE: By Jim Hughes,
Denver Post Staff Writer,
BODY:
Forest Service
chief Mike Dombeck threw fat on the fire Thursday, proposing that it
become more difficult to build roads on national
forest land.
The proposal, which still must undergo a
60-day public-comment period before being adopted, would require
forest managers to emphasize science in all road-management
decisions.
Dombeck's announcement comes amid nationwide controversy
over a moratorium on road-building in roadless areas issued
by President Bill Clinton last month; in essence, the moratorium
has been in effect for more than a year, since it was proposed
in January 1998. Dombeck said he hoped to sign the new policy by
Sept. 1, when the moratorium ends.
If adopted as proposed,
the rule will require environmental-impact statements for all new
roads proposed for roadless areas.
'There probably are only a
few activities that leave a permanent and indelible mark on the
landscape, and road-building is one of those,' Dombeck said. The
Forest Service manages 14.5 million acres of national
forests and national grasslands in Colorado.
Dombeck
said he didn't think the proposed ruling would have too much of an
adverse effect on logging, since national
forest timber harvests have been dropping for years.
Timber interests don't see it quite that way, though.
'It is
going down, but it's because of these types of issues that it's going
down,' said Tim Kyllo, resource manager for Louisiana Pacific in
Delta. 'In our view, it's a back-door approach to stop timber
harvesting. I think they're trying to stop logging.'
Off-road
vehicle users also are expected to oppose Dombeck's ruling.
'I believe it's far too narrow an approach,' said
Jerry Abboud, executive director of the Colorado Off-Highway
Vehicle Coalition in Denver. 'It shifts away from concepts like
multiple use, recreation and other things and focuses almost solely
on the environment itself. ... This is not going to stop with
motorized recreation, and people who think that's the case are
foolish.'
Forest officials will be required to study how each road
is used, by whom, and how that use is affecting ecosystem
health. Some roads will be closed; others will be upgraded.
Where appropriate, decommissioned roads could be turned into trails
for hiking or biking. Others could be reclaimed or gated.
That would be good news to environmentalists, said
Naomi Yoder of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, a
Nederland conservation group.
'I think it sounds great,' she
said. 'I think it's really setting a precedent for the chief of the
Forest Service to be saying that roads do have an impact on the land
and they do have an impact on the healthy functioning of the system,
because they do.'
She particularly welcomed the aspects of
Dombeck's plan that would require forest officials to study the way
their roads mesh with other road networks and that they take into
account the perspectives of local communities.
To comment on
Dombeck's plan, contact your local Forest Service office or go to
www.fs.fed/us/news/roads on the Web.
LOAD-DATE: March
03, 2000 
