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Idaho Statesman
Idaho proposal increases roadless acres, cuts area open to roads, logging
Rocky Barker -
rbarker@idahostatesman.com
Edition
Date: 08/29/08
The U.S. Forest Service reduced the acreage of roadless national forest that
would be opened to logging and roadbuilding in a plan unveiled Friday.
Where roads would be allowed, they would be temporary under the proposal drafted
by the state of Idaho.
The
agency released its final environmental review of a proposed plan for managing
9.3 million acres of Idaho roadless national forest in Boise that designates 250
roadless areas and establishes five management themes that guide road
construction, timber cutting and mineral development.
"The
Idaho Roadless Rule represents the first time a state and its citizens had a
direct voice in creating a plan for resolving an issue of national importance,"
said Lt. Gov. Jim Risch. "I believe the process we used can serve as a model for
resolving these difficult natural resource issues in the future."
Once
the Agriculture secretary makes a final decision the rule would supersede the
2001 roadless rule put in place by the Clinton Administration. That rule began a
legal battle that has spawned 10 lawsuits. The most recent decision by U.S.
District Judge Clarence Brimmer, tossed the Clinton rule for the second time.
Risch's proposal, written in 2006, would have returned 609,000 acres of
currently roadless lands to general forest management, which would have allowed
permanent roads and logging. The new proposal reduced it to 405,000 acres. The
new plan also narrowed the restrictions on logging and roadbuilding in the
largest designated roadless areas, the 5.3 million-acre backcountry restoration
areas, to limit logging to 442,000 acres of community protection zones.
The
proposal also removed permission for road construction and reconstruction to
access phosphate deposits in the backcountry recreation areas. The areas where
phosphate mining was expected were designated general forest.
"The
Department and Forest Service are committed to the important challenge of
protecting roadless characteristics," said Undersecretary of Agriculture for
Natural Resources and the Environment, Mark Rey. "The preferred alternative does
not authorize the building of a single road or the cutting of any trees."
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Idaho Mountain Express
Idaho roadless rule poised for passage
Conservationists express support for plan to manage 9.3 million acres of Idaho
backcountry
by JASON KAUFFMAN
A plan to manage Idaho�s
9.3 million acres of roadless national forest land is set to be finalized next
week, Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch told the Idaho Mountain Express on Wednesday. The
Idaho Roadless Rule could become law as soon as early October. Photo by Mountain
Express
From the inland rainforests of the state's Panhandle region to the high and wild
Pioneer Mountains in the south, Idaho is home to more roadless national forest
land not designated as wilderness than any other state save Alaska.
At a press conference in Boise later today, Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch is expected
to announce that a plan setting the future management direction for these 9.3
million acres of roadless land is nearly complete.
Speaking to the Idaho Mountain Express on Wednesday, Risch said a final
environmental impact statement designating the Idaho Roadless Rule as the
preferred alternative will be released to the public next week. Once released,
the document will be reviewed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, who
will then make the final decision on whether to select the Idaho rule, which is
designated as alternative four.
As of press time, no details were available for the other three alternatives,
which do include a No Action alternative.
Except in rare circumstances, the new Idaho rule would bar development
activities that would impact the roadless characteristics of the state's 251
roadless areas. It would not allow as much development a draft plan released
last year, nor as much as the plans set by each national forest in the state.
Under a separate rule-making process that states can elect to enter into,
then-Idaho Gov. Jim Risch submitted Idaho's roadless rule petition to the
Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C., in
2006. Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter subsequently endorsed Risch's plan after
taking office.
Having seen the specifics of the final Idaho rule set to be released next week,
Risch said it adheres very closely to his original petition. He said he's
"cautiously optimistic" that Schafer will select the Idaho rule, which was
crafted with input from 30 different counties throughout the state.
Risch said it's possible that Schafer may ask Agriculture Undersecretary Mark
Rey to review and make the final decision.
Once an alternative is selected by Schafer or Rey, the final document will be
published in the Federal Register. Thirty days after it's published, perhaps as
soon as early October, the Idaho roadless rule will become law, Risch said.
"Idaho will have the first roadless rule written by a state," he said.
The release of the final Idaho rule follows a recent decision by U.S. District
Judge Clarence A. Brimmer of Wyoming authorizing a permanent injunction against
the so-called Roadless Rule, enacted by the Clinton administration in 2001. The
new Idaho rule was set to replace that nationwide rule, which protected 58.5
million acres of roadless national forest land across the country.
Conservationists are appealing Brimmer's decision.
More than 1.2 million roadless acres spread throughout the Sawtooth National
Forest will be included in the new Idaho rule. The vast majority of the roadless
lands on the Sawtooth are found locally, surrounding the Wood River Valley in
the Smoky, Pioneer, Boulder and White Cloud mountains.
Risch, who was a forestry student at the University of Idaho in the 1960s, said
the Idaho rule has broad support among conservationists, industry and motorized
recreationists.
"This is the right thing to do," he said.
Jonathan Oppenheimer, a spokesman for the Idaho Conservation League, said the
most significant improvement to the Idaho rule since a draft version was
released late last year is the inclusion of language that specifies when and
where temporary roads can be built in roadless areas for forest health projects.
He said the draft plan was too vague, and could have opened up over 5 million
acres of roadless land designated under a Backcountry Restoration management
category to these kinds of projects.
Oppenheimer said that under the new version of the rule he's seen, community
protection zones would be established inside designated roadless areas extending
.5 miles out from the boundary of "at-risk communities." These changes were
based on recommendations made earlier this year by the Roadless Area
Conservation National Advisory Committee. The committee also suggested the
community protection zones be established in areas within 1.5 miles of at-risk
communities where steep slopes could aid the spread of wildfire or where
geographic features aid in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or
ridge top.
The changes mean projects could not be completed deep inside remote areas far
from any community under the guise of forest health, Oppenheimer said.
Temporary roads built under the committee's suggested guidelines would need to
be reclaimed once the work was completed and would only be accessible for uses
related to forest health work.
The Idaho roadless rule includes three additional management designations in
addition to Backcountry Restoration. They range from Wild Land Recreation, the
most protective classification, to Primitive and finally General Forest, which
would allow for timber cutting, mining and road-building projects.
Under the draft plan released last year, 609,000 roadless acres across the state
were designated under the General Forest category, which didn't please
conservationists. This included a 21,000-acre chunk of roadless land in the
southern Pioneer Mountains.
Oppenheimer said the final version of the Idaho rule bumps up protection for
that portion of the Pioneers to Backcountry Restoration and decreases the amount
of General Forest lands designated statewide to about 400,000 acres. On the
Sawtooth, the amount of General Forest designated has dropped from 107,000 acres
in the draft plan to 55,000 acres in the final plan, he said.
One of the most controversial aspects of the draft plan would have designated
about 400,000 acres in southeast Idaho's Caribou-Targhee National Forest in the
General Forest category to allow phosphate mining. Oppenheimer said that number
has been dropped to 200,000 acres.
He said phosphate mining would be further limited to just five designated
roadless areas. He said the original plan included an exception allowing
phosphate mining in all roadless areas designated as Backcountry Restoration.
Phosphate mining generally takes place only in southeast Idaho.
Oppenheimer said another improvement would re-designate several popular spots
from the Primitive designation to Wild Land Recreation. Areas highlighted for
the change include the Rapid River Roadless Area west of Riggins and the Moose
Mountain Roadless Area in Idaho's Clearwater region.
"It's encouraging to see the state of Idaho endorse this," he said.
The Idaho roadless rule does not affect motorized or grazing uses already
permitted inside designated roadless areas in the state's national forests. The
public will not be able to comment on the final Idaho roadless rule.
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