Forest Service Policies for Reducing Road Impacts
The most significant threat to aquatic ecosystems on federal public lands comes from roads. Of the over 400,000 miles of roads that crisscross Forest Service lands, more than 50 percent fail to meet current public safety and environmental standards, resulting in severe and sometimes irreversible degradation of aquatic habitats. The areas that have been spared from road building contain some of the last and most intact aquatic ecosystems in the nation. Yet, until recently, there was no national policy to adequately protect these unroaded areas or address the ecological effects of the extensive Forest Service road system. PRC has worked directly with the U.S.F.S., independent scientists, conservation organizations, and the public, to push for meaningful reform of Forest Service policy.
Roads are widely recognized as a risk to aquatic ecosystems on federal lands nationwide. Road restoration has been specifically identified in the Northwest Forest Plan and other recent federal policies as a high priority for aquatic conservation on federal lands. Although this work has progressed in some National Forests and BLM districts, only a fraction of the road restoration work identified to date has been accomplished – primarily due to lack of resources. In fact, across the United States the Forest Service has an immense deferred maintenance backlog. As recently as March 2004, a Taxpayers for Common Sense report characterized the problem as a 10 billion dollar “road maintenance backlog.” Click here to read the report.
Until recently, there was no national policy to adequately protect these unroaded areas or address the ecological effects of the extensive Forest Service road system. PRC has worked directly with the Forest Service, independent scientists, conservation organizations, and the public, to push for meaningful reform of Forest Service policy.
Under the Clinton Administration, former Forest Service Chief Dombeck advanced two new national initiatives aimed, in part, at addressing system-wide environmental degradation:
- The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protected over three-quarters of the inventoried roadless areas. This rule is currently in effect in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Alaska (except in the Tongass).
- The 2001 Roads Rule, which set fiscal and environmental limits on the road system. The Rule was adopted as part of the new Roads Policy, which also included implementing Forest Service Directives. Only the Rule remains in effect today. The directives were recently largely modified.
Click here to read more about PRC's work to protect the 2001 Roadless Rule.
Click here to read more about PRC's efforts to implement the 2001 Roads Rule, and to learn about how the directives that implemented the original Roads Policy were recently changed.
