BUSH ROADLESS RULE
Brief Summary of the New Roadless Rule
The Bush Administration has replaced the Clinton
Roadless Initiative with a new rule for roadless management.
The new rule creates a process whereby state governors can
petition the Secretary of Agriculture for additions, subtractions
or other changes for the management of roadless areas on Forest
Service lands in their respective states. Each petition is
reviewed by a national advisory committee and then submitted to
the Secretary with recommendations. The Secretary of
Agriculture then decides to accept the petition or reject
it. If the Secretary accepts the state's petition the USDA
Forest Service will begin a rulemaking process to address the
petition of each state whose petition is accepted. The
Secretary will then make the final decision on the new rule for
disposition of these lands and the forests will amend their forest
plans to conform to that decision. The governors have until
November 17, 2006 to submit their petition. If they don't
submit a petition, the Forest Service will decide what to do with
roadless lands without state input.
The new rule requires that the governor who wishes
to submit a petition must elicit public input and disclose how
that input was treated in the petition.
THEREFORE, in
order to assist Montana's Governor Schweitzer, we have provided
the public with several ways to give input on Montana roadless
management.
We collected signatures on the following petition:
We the undersigned wish to voice our
opposition to the 2001 Clinton
Roadless Rule and Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath's continued support for
this rule.
We the undersigned
furthermore ask Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer not to make any
petition to President Bush asking these lands be further studied or preserved as
roadless areas or future wilderness.
We object:
·
to having
our access to our National Forests restricted;
·
to the
gating and destruction of our forest roads;
·
to having
our National Forests mismanaged and reduced to fire fuel;
·
to being
subjected to arbitrary restrictions concerning our preferred
activities while on our National Forests.
We are the
people who live, work, pay taxes and vote in this state.
You can send an email
to Governor Schweitzer.
~~~~~~~~~~~
BRC’s "NO SPIN" on the Roadless
Initiative
-by Adena
Cook
On May 5, the Final Rule on management of
our National Forest System "Roadless Areas" was released.
The Rule establishes guidelines and an
ambitious time frame under which the governor of each state
with Roadless Areas can submit a petition to the Forest Service
proposing to change how each of these areas is now managed.
The stakes for the recreation community are high.
In the next 18 months, a governor must decide
whether or not to submit a petition for change. For those
choosing to submit a petition, they must conduct some rational
process leading to final submittal to the Secretary of Agriculture
on the ambitious time frame required. Any such decisions are
likely to be highly controversial, and subject to the
disinformation that has characterized the public discussion so
far. Both could be costly, both in dollars and political
capital that a governor could spend to get the job done.
The rule leaves to each affected State’s
discretion the process by which a petition is crafted. It does
specify that a petition must contain:
1. Location and description of the lands and
how they are managed now.
2. Purpose and need for change.
3. Relation of the area’s current management
to local and state land conservation policies now in place.
4. How fish and wildlife would be affected.
5. A description of how the public was involved
in developing the petition.
6. A commitment that the state will participate
in subsequent rulemaking as a cooperating agency.
After the petition is submitted, the Secretary
has 180 days to accept or decline the petition. The rule
provides for the creation of a national advisory committee to
assist in evaluating the petitions. The committee will also
provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on any state
specific rulemaking.
After a petition is accepted, the Forest
Service will begin rulemaking to address the petition. This
rulemaking process will consider the environmental effects of the
proposed rule in compliance with NEPA. Put in the context of
other Forest Service planning efforts, the petition may be
analogous to a proposed action and the subsequent process will
presumably have a full range of alternatives with national public
involvement at the appropriate levels. The subsequent
decision by the Secretary will reflect this decisionmaking
process, and could be different from the petition. However,
despite many inquiries from states and affected interest groups,
the Forest Service and Department of Agriculture have been
conspicuously vague in describing the process that will be used in
evaluating and finalizing any petitions submitted under the Rule.
This is a powerful opportunity for the
recreation community to join together and tell our story:
the importance of recreation in our Roadless Areas, access to our
national forests, and active management of those lands. The
story thus far has spun way off this track. The recreation
community has a significant challenge ahead.
Following are some thoughts on how recreation
groups at the state level could proceed:
* Networking with all the recreation groups
that use these roadless areas will be more important than ever.
* Become informed on all the Roadless Areas in
the state, their recreation resources, and assemble a package of
the highlights in each. A good place to start is the Forest
Service’s Roadless web site:
http://www.fs.fed.us
* Establish a close relationship with
officials engaged in the petition decisionmaking and process.
* Submit applications to any state committees
or task forces that are established. Now is the time for our
best people to become involved.
This will be a lot of work for everyone in the
recreation community who has Roadless Areas in their state.
It is a tremendous opportunity to tell our story, and we cannot
afford to leave that story untold.
Exerpts from a news release by Adena Cook,
Public Lands Advisor for the BlueRibbon Coalition
1-800-258-3742.
http://www.sharetrails.org
For more information on the Roadless Rule go to www.roadless,fs.fed.us
The deadline for applying for the national roadless area advisory
committee is June 24.
ROADLESS AREA CONSERVATION
RULE
TIMELINE
· Roadless Rule
Published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2001, with an
effective date of March 13, 2001.
· Effective
date extended to May 12, 2001, to allow for incoming
Administration review.
· May 4, 2001,
Secretary announces that USDA would implement the Roadless Rule
but because of concerns expressed about it by local communities,
tribes, and States, would consider making amendments to it.
· The Roadless Rule
has been challenged by nine lawsuits in federal district courts in
Idaho, Utah, North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, and the District of
Columbia.
· On May 10, 2001, the
Idaho Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction order
prohibiting USDA and the Forest Service from implementing the
Roadless Rule. This action was appealed to the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals by interveners in the Idaho cases.
· On June 7, 2001, in
order to bring some stability to roadless area management given
the legal uncertainties of implementing the roadless rule, and to
protect roadless values, Chief Dale Bosworth instituted interim
protection measures for inventoried roadless areas, and on July
27, 2001, interim agency directives were issued to that effect.
These were updated on December 14, 2001, and are scheduled to
expire on June 14, 2003.
· On July 10, 2001,
the Forest Service published an Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking in the Federal Register requesting public comment on
the long-term protection and management of roadless areas within
the National Forest System. Over 726,000 comments were
received and a summary report of these public comments was
prepared in May of 2002.
· On December 12,
2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split 2-1
decision on the appeal of the Idaho District Court’s preliminary
injunction reversing and remanding that action. Plaintiffs
in the Idaho cases requested that the Ninth Circuit reconsider
this decision utilizing the full 10 judge panel. The Ninth
Circuit declined this request on April 4, 2003, and issued its
mandate to the Idaho District Court reversing and remanding the
lower court’s action on April 14, 2003.
· On April 14, 2003,
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate to the Idaho
Federal District Court to dissolve its preliminary injunction and
proceed to a trial on the merits. This event actually made
the roadless rule effective for the first time.
· On June 9, 2003,
USDA announced that it would implement the roadless rule but would
be proposing an amendment to it to identify how Governors may seek
relief from the prohibitions of the rule for limited exceptional
circumstances within their State.
·On June 9, 2003, USDA
settled a lawsuit with the State of Alaska on the roadless rule by
agreeing to publish a proposed rule to temporarily exempt the
Tongass National Forest from the prohibitions of the rule.
This proposed rule was published for public notice and comment on
July 15, 2003.
· On July 14, 2003,
the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming found the
roadless rule to be unlawful and ordered that the rule “be
permanently enjoined”. That ruling has been appealed to
the Tenth Circuit by intervenors.
· On December 30,
2003, the Department adopted a final rule to amend the roadless
rule to temporarily exempt the Tongass National Forest from the
prohibitions of the rule.
· On May 11, 2004, the
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the appeal of the
Wyoming District Court’s July 14, 2003, order to permanently
enjoin and set aside the roadless rule.
· On July 12, 2004,
USDA announces that it is publishing for public review and comment
a proposed a rule that would replace the 2001 roadless rule with a
petitioning process that would allow Governors an opportunity to
seek establishment of management requirements for National Forest
System inventoried roadless areas within their States. In
addition, the Forest Service announces that it is reinstating the
interim protection measures for inventoried roadless areas that
expired on June 14, 2003.
· The
Bush Roadless Rule was finalized and published on May
5.2005. The governors have until Nov. 2006 to submit their
proposals.
· In the fall of 2006,
federal judge in California overturned the Bush Roadless Rule and
reinstated the Clinton Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RACR)
nationwide. This decision has been appealed.
· In late November, 2006,
the governor of Idaho submitted a plan for roadless management in
Idaho. His plan could release some areas from the Clinton
RACR. He requested that his petition be considered under the
Administratlive Procedures Act (APA), thus bypassing both roadless
rules.
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Bush Roadless Rule
The following is the core of
the new rule but not the complete rule
Subpart
B-State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management
Sec.
294.10
Purpose.
294.11
Definition.
294.12
State petitions.
294.13
Petition process.
294.14
Petition contents.
294.15
State-specific rulemaking.
294.16
Scope and applicability.
Authority:
16 U.S.C. 472, 529, 551, 1608, 1613; 23 U.S.C. 201, 205.
§294.10
Purpose.
The purpose of these administrative
procedures is to set forth a process for State-specific rulemaking
to address the management of inventoried roadless areas in areas
where the Secretary determines that regulatory direction is
appropriate based on a petition from the affected Governor.
§294.11
Definition.
Inventoried
roadless areas - Areas
identified in a set of inventoried roadless area maps, contained
in the Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation, Final
Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 2, dated November 2000,
which are held at the National headquarters office of the Forest
Service, and any subsequent update or revision of those maps.
§294.12
State petitions.
The
Governor of any State that contains National Forest System lands
may petition the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate
regulations establishing management requirements for all or any
portion of National Forest System inventoried roadless areas
within that State. Any such petition must be submitted to
the Secretary of Agriculture not later than [date to be inserted
18 months from the effective date of the final rule].
§294.13
Petition process.
(a) Review
and consideration of petitions made pursuant to §294.12 shall be
accomplished as follows:
(1) Review – The Secretary
shall review petitions and may request
additional information from a petitioner before deciding whether
to accept the petition. If the Secretary requests additional
information from a petitioner, the petition will be considered
complete when the petitioner provides the additional information.
(2) Disposition – The
Secretary or the Secretary’s designee shall respond to the
petition within 180 days of receipt of a completed petition.
The response shall accept or decline the petition to initiate a
State-specific rulemaking.
§294.14
Petition contents.
(a)
Any petition made pursuant to §294.12 shall provide the
following:
(1)
The location and description of the particular lands for which the
petition is being made, including maps and other
appropriate resources in sufficient detail to enable consideration
of the petition;
(2)
The particular management requirements recommended for the lands
and any exceptions;
(3)
The identification of the circumstances and needs intended to be
addressed by the petition, including conserving roadless area
values and characteristics; protecting human health and safety;
reducing hazardous fuels and restoring essential wildlife
habitats; maintaining existing facilities such as dams, or
providing reasonable access to public and private property or
public and privately owned facilities; and technical corrections
to existing maps such as boundary adjustments to remove existing
roaded areas
(4) A description of how the
recommended management requirements identified in paragraph (2)
differs from existing applicable land management plan(s) or
policies related to inventoried roadless area management, while
still complying with applicable laws and regulations;
(5) A description of how the
recommended management requirements identified in paragraph (2)
compares to existing State land conservation policies and
direction set forth in any applicable State land and resource
management plan(s);
(6) A description of how the
recommended management requirements identified in paragraph (2)
would affect the fish and wildlife that utilize the particular
lands in question and their habitat;
(7) A description of any public
involvement efforts undertaken by the State during development of
the petition, including efforts to engage local governments and
persons with expertise in fish and wildlife biology, fish and
wildlife management, forest management, outdoor recreation, and
other important disciplines; and
(8) A commitment by the State
that it will participate as a cooperating agency in any
environmental analysis for a rulemaking process.
§294.15
State-specific rulemaking.
If the
Secretary or the Secretary’s designee accepts a petition, the
Forest Service shall be directed to initiate notice and comment
rulemaking to address the petition. The Forest Service shall
coordinate development of the proposed rule with the State.
The Secretary or the Secretary’s designee shall make the final
decision for any State-specific inventoried roadless area
management rule.
§294.16
Scope and applicability.
(a) The
provisions of this regulation apply exclusively to the development
and review of petitions made pursuant to this subpart.
(b) Nothing in this regulation
shall be construed to provide for the transfer to, or
administration by, a State or local authority of any Federally
owned lands.
__/s/__Dale N. Bosworth___________________________
_July 12, 2004
Chief
News
Release
ATTORNEY
GENERAL MIKE MCGRATH
STATE OF MONTANA
FOR
RELEASE: June 6, 2001
CONTACT:
Judy Beck or Lynn Solomon, 444-0582
McGRATH
TO COURT: PUBLIC COMMENT ON ROADLESS RULE SUBSTANTIAL
HELENA
- Attorney General Mike McGrath on Wednesday joined the legal
debate on the proposed federal roadless regulation by asking the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the rules adopted by
the Forest Service last year.
In
a friend-of-the-court
brief (PDF 114KB) filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals, McGrath strongly disagreed with a decision by an Idaho
judge that public input on the proposed rule was "grossly
inadequate."
"There
is considerable confusion regarding the information that has been
presented to the court about the public comment process in
Montana," McGrath said. "As attorney general, I have the
responsibility to clarify for the court that Montana citizens
truly had substantial opportunity to comment and that the majority
of those comments overwhelmingly supported the roadless
initiative."
The
brief states that the Forest Service held 34 public meetings in
Montana alone, in large cities such as Billings and Kalispell, and
small communities like Plains and Divide, which are closest to the
roadless areas affected by the rule.
"Public
turn-out was impressive," McGrath said in the brief. "In
all, 17,429 Montanans participated in the NEPA process, and of
those commenting, 11,654 favored even stronger roadless area
protections than those proposed in the Forest Service's draft
environmental impact statement."
McGrath
noted that the preliminary injunction imposed by the district
court in Idaho was based on the court's belief that the public
comment period was inadequate. However, contrary to the Idaho
court's findings, McGrath argued that the Forest Service made
provisions for public participation that were
"exemplary."
"In
Montana, the final roadless rule was based on the involvement of
over 17,000 citizens," McGrath explained. "The Idaho
court's findings simply ignored the input from Montana citizens.
We're asking that its decision be overturned."
Rather,
the brief concludes that the roadless rule is "the product of
public rulemaking at its most effective."
http://www.doj.state.mt.us/news/releases2001/06062001.asp
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