History of Roadless Areas

Roadless lands refer to Federal lands meeting minimum standards for attributes qualifying the area for evaluation for possible additions to the Nation's Wilderness System. The areas generally must exhibit little evidence of past management and development (little or no timber harvest and no system roads) with a minimum size of 5000 acres or more or any undeveloped area contiguous to an existing Wilderness.

The first mapped inventory of these areas (Roadless Area Review and Evaluation- RARE I) was begun in 1972 and completed in 1973 mapping 1449 areas totaling over 56 million acres.

In response to critics of RARE I, a second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) was begun in June 1977. RARE II inventoried over 62 million acres. This recommendation was litigated and found by the courts to violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In 1983 the individual Forest Plans were required to update the RARE II inventory and make site-specific evaluations of wilderness values. Based on these evaluations (the third time the roadless inventory was studied), each Forest Plan made recommendations to Congress for additions to the Wilderness system.

Most Forest Plans in Montana were completed in mid to late 1980's and Congress has not designated any of the Montana Forest Plan recommendations.

President Clinton directed the Forest Service to do another nationwide inventory and evaluation of roadless areas in October of 1999 when many Forest Plans should have been revised or in the process of being revised. This fourth nationwide EIS process was similar to the 1979 RARE II process and resulted in President Clinton issuing the "Roadless Rule" just before he left office in 2000.

The Clinton Roadless Rule directed the USFS to manage all inventoried roadless areas as if they were wilderness (no development or timber management) and amended all Forest Plans that had made previous wilderness recommendations or land use designations for inventoried roadless areas. The rule was litigated by several States. The Clinton approved 2001 Roadless Rule was found to be promulgated in an illegal manner, found in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and the1964 Wilderness Act. The US District Court in Wyoming issued a permanent injunction and set aside the roadless rule. That decision was appealed in the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In an attempt to try to resolve the issue and avoid past mistakes, the Bush Administration issued a new Roadless Rule Process in May of 2005 that provides for Governors to submit petitions to the US Department of Agriculture recommending future management requirements for roadless areas in their State. The rule encourages public participation and collaboration at local level in developing State recommendations that must be submitted to USDA, Washington DC by November 13, 2006. As a result of the new rule, the Tenth Circuit Court has ruled the appeal of the Clinton Roadless Rule is mute because the new rule replaced the Clinton Roadless Rule.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer subsequently met with County Commissioners in counties with Federal Roadless Areas, and asked them to help secure public input for management of these areas.

Accordingly, the Flathead County Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution on September 14, 2005 to establish a 12 member Task Force which made recommendations that were subsequently adopted by the County Commissioners and sent to the governor.

In October, 2006, a federal judge in California threw out the Bush Roadless Rule and reinstated the Clinton Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RACR). This decision was appealed.

Shortly after the overthrow of the Bush rule, the Governor of Idaho petitioned the Secretary of Agriculture for changes to roadless management in Idaho. He bypassed both Bush and Clinton roadless rules and made his request under the Administrative Procedures Act. This may be a useful tool for states in the future.

WILDERNESS AND ROADLESS AREAS IN REGION 1 NATIONAL FORESTS

Which include all of Montana and parts of Idaho, and the Dakotas

Name of Forest	Total Forest Acres	% that is Roadless or Wilderness	Total Inventoried Roadless Acres	Total Wilderness Acres	Total Other Roadless Acres*
Beaverhead/DeerLodge	3,364,000	65.6%	1,831,000	220,000	157,000
Bitterroot	1,581,000	80.4%	406,000	755,000	111,000
Clearwater	1,810,000	69.6%	989,000	263,000	9,000
Custer	1,187,000	40.6%	145,000	333,000	4,000
Dakota Grasslands**	1,261,000	22.2%	280,000
Flathead	2,355,000	66.3%	479,000	1,076,000	7,000
Gallatin	1,807,000	86.9%	705,000	718,000	149,000
Helena	975,000	57.7%	445,000	112,000	6,000
Idaho Panhandle	2,475,000	34.4%	823,000	10,000	18,000
Kootenai	2,279000	33.9%	638,000	94,000	40,000
Lewis & Clark	1,862000	84.3%	1,004,000	386,000	180,000
Lolo	2,080,000	43.8%	758,000	148,000	4,000
Nez Perce	2,121,000	65.6%	502,000	876,000	13,000
Region 1 Total***	23,970,000	58.8%	8,725,000	4,991,000	698,000

* Includes Research Natural Areas and Wilderness Study Areas.
**Non - forested
*** Total does not include the Dakota Grasslands

Data computed from USDA Forest Service tables at http://roadless.fs.fed.us/documents/feis/data/gis/far/far116_acres_sda_forest.htm
& " APPENDIX A INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREA ACREAGE CATEGORIES OF NFS LANDS SUMMARIZED BY REGION, AND FOREST " which can be found the USDA National Forest website

Harmful Effects of Roadless Areas

LESS RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
You can hoof it – two legs or four - but in most roadless areas you can’t drive it. In most Flathead roadless areas even snowmobiles are banned. Even bikes and game carts are to be forbidden in areas recommended for wilderness. If you are too young, too old, too impaired, or otherwise unable to pack yourself AND your gear in, you’ll just have to stay home. NO WHEELS.

A local survey conducted by the USDA Forest Service revealed that less than 2% of the visitors to the Flathead N.F. went into the wilderness areas. Although there are no figures for roadless areas it is reasonable to assume that that number is even lower because most wilderness visitors will go to the better known and more attractive designated wilderness. You can find the National Visitor Use Monitoring report at http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum

LESS INDUSTRY

Roadless areas have become “NO LOGGING” zones. Even burnt timber within roadless areas is left to rot, spread insects and fuel future catastrophic fires. How many more sawmills and logging companies must be sacrificed? Approximately 12,100 acres of inventoried roadless areas were burned in the 2000 Moose Fire. An estimated 38 percent of this area burned at a high severity (most of the trees killed); about 15 percent burned at moderate severity; about 21 percent burned at low severity; about 26 percent was unburned. No timber harvest was proposed in inventoried roadless areas.

Between 1989 and 2000, 23 mills closed in Montana leaving the state with only 16 open mills in 2001. For all but one of the mills that closed, timber supply was the primary cause or a significant contributing factor. Since 2000 more mills have closed.

FEWER HIGH-PAYING JOBS

Roadless inventory restrictions on timber supply contributed to the mill closures and loss of good paying jobs that supported families for generations. Montana’s Average Annual Wage ranks lowest in the Nation for the last five years. The mill closures from 1989-2000 resulted in a loss of 1700 high-paying mill jobs and approximately 530 even higher paid logging jobs in Montana. In 2001 the average annual wage in the wood products industry in Flathead Co. was almost $37,000 at the same time retail trade was averaging $ 19,200 per year. Before 1980 the average wage in Flathead Co. was slightly below and sometimes above the national average. Since 1980 the gap between Flathead wages and national wages has grown. In 2000 Flathead wages were only 2/3 of national wages. The drop in average wage in Montana and Flathead Co. is partly due to the crashing timber industry.

HIGHER TAXES

Timber production revenue for the County tax base has been replaced by local and national taxes. For decades a percent of the timber harvest payments received by the USDA Forest Service was given to the county in which the timber had been harvested. In 1981 Flathead County received $ 1,958,123.00 and in 2000 the county received $ 361,082.00. After adjusting for inflation the 5 year average of these payments from 1981 to 1985 is $2,128,051.00 and from 1996 to 2000 it is $ 679,920.00 - about 1/3 of the earlier average. The sole reason for this decline in income for the county is a decline in timber harvest. For this reason Congress passed a law in 2000 called the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-determination Act that compensates timber counties for this loss of income. These funds come directly from taxpayers rather than from timber companies. This act is scheduled to expire in 2006. If not renewed the shortfall will have to be made up by local taxpayers.

Also, the business taxes and income taxes once paid by closed timber businesses and their workers are now paid by those who are still working. Skyrocketing fire fighting costs affect all local, State, and Federal taxpayers.

MORE FIRES

If the forest is not managed, it will burn. In roadless areas hazardous fuels cannot be reduced and fires cannot be effectively fought.   Which bring us

    MORE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
In the form of air pollution, increased algae growth in our lakes, loss of wildlife and wildlife habitat, cooked sterile soils, erosion polluting our streams, black unsightly landscapes and the SMOLDERING RUINS OF HOMES.