• Issues
  • Access
  • Agriculture
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Fisheries
  • Highways & Habitat
  • Mining
  • Roadless Forest Areas
  • Wetlands
• News Room
  • Press Releases
  • Reports
  • Square Dealer
• Search this Site
• RSS Feed

 

A Short History of Inventoried Roadless Areas

In 1979, blocks of roadless backcountry in the national forest system were designated as inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) by the U.S. Forest Service in the second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation process (RARE II). The RARE II process identified and inventoried undeveloped areas that consisted of 5,000 or more contiguous acres without roads.

From 1979 to 2001, management of IRAs not specifically protected by Congress was generally prescribed in individual land management plans developed for each national forest or grassland.

On Jan. 12, 2001, the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established. The 2001 rule set national guidelines limiting backcountry timber harvest and road construction and reconstruction – activities with the greatest likelihood of altering and fragmenting landscapes – with a goal of upholding the roadless characteristics found on 58.5 million acres of IRAs. It allowed reasonable exceptions for management activities to protect communities from wildlife and permitted projects from valid existing rights to proceed. At the same time, the national roadless rule attempted to conserve key fish and wildlife habitat while not closing any existing access to these valuable lands. The 2001 rule superseded the management prescriptions for IRAs applied through individual land management plans.

On July 14, 2003, the 2001 roadless rule was enjoined by a U.S. District Court judge in Wyoming (10th Circuit Court); as a result, the rule could not be applied by the Forest Service unless a subsequent court of appeals reversed this ruling.

In May 2005, President Bush eliminated the 2001 roadless rule and issued the 2005 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which allowed governors to petition, by Nov. 13, 2006, for individual, state-specific rules to manage IRAs in national forests and grasslands in their states. However, the 2005 roadless rule was short-lived. According to a report developed for Congress by the Congressional Research Service, the 2005 rule contained "no standards by which the Secretary is to review a state's recommendations, and does not address the weight to be given to the views of non-state residents with an interest in public lands."

On Sept. 19, 2006, a U.S. District Court judge in California (9th Circuit Court) issued a decision that rescinded the 2005 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and reinstated the 2001 roadless rule. This ruling found the 2001 rule was unlawfully repealed because the National Environmental Policy Act had not been followed when the environmental impacts of removing the 2001 rule were determined. The court thereby restored the 2001 rule as the management policy for all of the nation’s roadless areas.

The September 2006 court ruling also threw out the 2005 rule that permitted governors to submit recommendations for roadless area conservation in their states. The secretary of agriculture, however, subsequently invited governors to petition for state-specific roadless area management under the decades-old Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The state petitions would be reviewed and evaluated by the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee, or RACNAC, and developed under cooperating agency status between the states and the U.S. Forest Service.

At this point, two states, Idaho and Colorado, have submitted petitions for management of roadless areas located within their borders. The Idaho rule-making process was completed on Oct. 16, 2008, establishing a management plan for Idaho’s 9.3 million acres of roadless areas that is 95-percent consistent with the 2001 roadless rule. The Colorado rule is currently in draft form, with a final rule expected in the winter of 2009.   

On Jan. 12, 2007, the state of Wyoming again challenged the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in the U.S. 10th Circuit District Court of Wyoming. On Aug. 12, 2008, a federal judge again ruled to overturn the 2001 rule, a decision that conflicted with, but did not overturn, the Sept. 2006 decision upholding the rule.

On May 28, 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a one-year interim directive prohibiting the Forest Service from authorizing any projects in roadless areas (except areas in Idaho, which are governed by that state's own roadless rule) without approval by the Agriculture secretary.

On Aug. 5, 2009, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Sept. 2006 decision by the 9th District Court that invalidated the 2005 roadless rule and reinstated the 2001 rule as the management document overseeing 40 million acres of backcountry (apart from roadless areas located in Idaho and the Tongass National Forest in Alaska).

Currently, the 9th Circuit has determined that the Forest Service must adhere to the 2001 roadless rule in administering 40 million acres of roadless lands. This decision conflicts with a lower-level magistrate judge's decision in the 10th Circuit, whereby a District Court ruled that the Forest Service cannot follow the 2001 rule. The 10th District Court decision is being appealed, and a decision likely will be rendered in 2010. Any additional lawsuits against the 2001 rule are unlikely, as the 8-year-old administrative regulation is protected from litigation under the statute of limitations.

Unless replaced by subsequent legislation or another federal rule-making process, the legality of the 2001 rule is expected to find resolution in the judicial system.   

For more information about roadless areas, contact Joel Webster, associate director of campaigns, TRCP Center for Western Lands, or Katie McKalip, associate director of communications, TRCP Center for Western Lands.