November 27, 2000

The Americans for Responsible Recreational Access (ARRA) said today that it was relieved to learn that the Clinton Administration's final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on the Forest Service roadless initiative did not place any new restrictions on motorized recreation opportunities in inventoried roadless areas. While this news is encouraging, ARRA indicated that it still has concern over the Forest Service's upcoming release of its transportation policy. The Forest Service's transportation policy could have a serious impact on recreation activities in national forests, especially when implemented in conjunction with the Roadless Area Conservation Rule and the recently finalized Forest Planning regulations. Because of these potential concerns, ARRA will continue to monitor the situation closely.

From a public policy standpoint, the FEIS on the roadless initiative still leaves many unanswered questions relative to the growing threat of catastrophic wildfires in national forests as witnessed by last summer's wildfires in New Mexico and California. The stated purpose of the roadless initiative is to preserve and protect the natural resources found in our national forests. A key element in controlling wildfires is roads, and gaining access to uncontrollable wildfires was a severe problem this past summer.

ARRA is an organization dedicated to promoting responsible recreational activities throughout the United States. ARRA has had concern over a series of administrative steps taken by the Clinton Administration in the last year that would deny the American people access to millions of acres in the country's national forests, national parks and other public lands. Preserving our national resources should be a goal that we can all support. However, denying the American people access to those public lands is not an appropriate public policy solution towards preserving such national resources.