"It does not require a majority to prevail, 
but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
 --Samuel Adams - Leader in our Fight for Independence

Forest Road Management

Forest Service Releases New Road Management Policy

The new policy will place the emphasis on maintaining the minimum number of roads needed for managing the forest.  They will do this by decommissioning more old roads and building fewer new roads.   

SUMMARY OF THE NEW FOREST TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM RULES

Major policy change. "The forest Service proposes …..to shift the emphasis from transportation development to managing access within the capability of the land. "

A major change like this should be approved by Congress. The FS is not even doing an EIS.

FS anticipates that more roads will be decommissioned and fewer new roads built than under current rules .

"…the proposed action could also reduce access to forest resources and the economic and social values associated with those resources." Rigorous analysis will be required before new construction. If roads are not required by the forest plans in effect, they will be decommissioned. 

In 1998, FS built a total of 215 miles of  road. 1991 to 1997 the FS commissioned an average of 2700 miles of road. What will happen when decommissioning becomes part of standard procedures.

FS will maintain fewer roads but will maintain them to a higher standard for recreational use.

Since the fastest growing sector of forest use is recreational, why not maintain more roads and budget for that.

The negative effects of this policy change were ignored or given scant attention.

Negative effects of decommissioning:

bulletAbility to control fires
bullet    "     "     "   insect and disease infestations
bulletConcentration of public access on fewer roads at same time the public demand for same is increasing, resulting in decreased quality of recreational experience.
bulletLoss of public access
bulletAdverse impact to small business by reducing the likelihood of small timber sales

Road management decisions will be science based.

This sounds good but the "science" is suspect since "…the proposed rule does not establish any specific science-based analysis as the standard to be used…"

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THESE FORESTS? DO WE NEED A FOREST SERVICE ONCE THE ROADS ARE ALL CLOSED AND RESOURCE EXTRACTION IS A THING OF THE PAST.

For more Info on the new roads policy go to http://www.fs.fed.us/news/roads/

 Forest Service Employee Comment

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