Final version of roadless plan released

Final version of roadless plan released

Nov. 16, 2000

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

The final version of a federal plan to protect close to 60 million acres of roadless forest nationwide and 10,000 acres in Montezuma County was presented to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on Monday.

If Glickman approves the plan in December, the U.S. Forest Service would ban new road construction and timber-harvesting on 49.2 million acres of national forest. In addition, the plan will include 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska as of April 2004.

"The roadless plan in and of itself was no secret, but I think clearly the breadth of what Dombeck’s created here goes far beyond what we were led to believe would be coming down," said James Doyle, spokesman for Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.).

The final plan is more restrictive than the draft environmental-impact statement released in May. The original rule did not specifically prohibit timber harvests and did not include the Tongass forest.

After its release, the controversial proposal garnered heated remarks from both environmentalists and the timber industry during the two-month comment period this summer. The Forest Service held over 600 public meetings nationwide and received 1.6 million public comments.

Many opponents charged that the draft version of the proposal would prevent foresters from accessing the forest to manage insect infestations and thin forest stands.

The final proposal does allow road construction and reconstruction if needed for "public safety and resource protection." Also, timber can be harvested in these areas to improve habitat, reduce fire risks, or restore forest ecology, said Thurman Wilson, San Juan National Forest planning-team leader.

Motorized recreationalists also voiced concerns that the proposal would limit their access, but the final plan does allow them access to the forest and use of the unmapped existing roads in those areas.

One common philosophical objection to the plan was that it made critical-use decisions, normally resolved within each national-forest management plan, into a national one-size-fits-all approach.

This was the concern voiced by the Montezuma County commissioners in a written statement submitted to the Forest Service opposing the roadless plan this summer.

"I really feel like top-down decision-making is not helpful. For one thing, it feeds mistrust and it really lacks grounding in the physical and social landscapes that are unique to every national forest in the West," said Mike Preston, Montezuma County federal lands coordinator. "This national initiative has really diverted time and energy and money away from the site-specific process."

Gary Jones, executive director of the Colorado Timber Industry Association, said that even though there are provisions in the proposal for harvesting timber for forest health, it would be almost impossible to implement without road access. He said local governments can do a better job of managing land.

However, environmentalists seem to welcome a national approach.

"For years when you look at the timber policy, it was set by Congress on the national level and I think it’s appropriate for agencies to have some national guidance for how to manage their lands and then leave some of it to local managers," said Jeff Widen, associate director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

The proposal has garnered the support of the environmental community. "Overall I think the Forest Service has taken a balanced approach to the way that the national forest ought to be managed and the way that they were intended to be managed," said Widen.

"One of the principal features of the policy that I think will be good for Southwestern Colorado is the provision in the policy for the allowance of forest-restoration projects, like the pine-zone project," he said.

The measure is not likely to be overturned through Congressional legislation, although Doyle said it was opposed by many Western senators. "This is something Senator Campbell has not supported and will not support. We’re anxious to get a Republican president in that can begin overturning some of these executive orders," Doyle explained.

The areas affected pertain to sections of land containing at least 5,000 acres of roadless terrain or that sit adjacent to other federally protected areas such as wilderness areas or wilderness study areas.

Overall, there are a half-million acres of designated roadless areas within the 1.9 million-acre San Juan National Forest, most of which are in the central part of the national forest and the eastern sections near Pagosa Springs.

Although loggers have not needed to build roads into most of these areas, about a quarter of the forest’s suitable timber-harvesting region would ultimately remain roadless under the plan. This includes approximately 90,000 acres.

The four-volume roadless environmental-impact study is available on the web at http://roadless.fs.fed.us. Printed copies will be available for review at all Forest Service offices and 10,000 municipal libraries nationwide.