WASHINGTON, D.C. – A great swath of America’s natural heritage has been granted a pardon from destructive developments due to a landmark court ruling overturning the Bush Administration’s policy to set aside the popular Clinton-era “roadless rule” for National Forests, U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) said in commending a ruling handed down today by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
“The policies of the Bush Administration not only ignored public opinion, placing at risk the future of our cherished heritage, but also undoubtedly would have exacerbated the approximate $10 billion maintenance backlog on existing National Forest roads,” said Rahall, the Ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over National Forest issues. “To recklessly pile an added infrastructure burden onto the existing maintenance backlog was nothing more than bad management policy.”
The court ruling will reinstate the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule which was enacted to protect about one-third of the acreage in National Forests from most logging and road building, and to help preserve hunting and fishing habitat for outdoor recreationists. The 380,000 miles of extensive roads currently in National Forests is already double the number of miles in the entire National Highway System. While originally built primarily for timber harvesting, many of these roads now serve as vital arteries for small towns and businesses throughout rural America – but under current budgetary constraints, the Forest Service is struggling to maintain this existing infrastructure.
The Bush Administration’s rule, which overturned this popular “roadless rule” and paved the way for extensive road building, would have created a patchwork of policies that allowed State governors to determine road construction priorities on National forests. As well, it threatened to stick the federal government with the bill for maintaining those additional roads. Given the $10 billion backlog on capitol improvements and maintenance duties on existing forest roads, it was questionable as to how the Forest Service could have managed to stretch its limited funds even further on new projects.
“National Forests have always been, and should remain, a federal responsibility,” said Rahall. “Today’s ruling underscores how far the Administration will go to brush aside overwhelming public opinion on the future of their National Forests in favor of the Administration’s own political agenda.”
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