The Roadless Rule

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, adopted in 2001, put severe limits on new road construction and logging in nearly 60 million acres of currently roadless forestlands. The Rule has been through multiple legal challenges, which still continue. However, the Rule is currently in effect in Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Alaska (except the Tongass), Nevada, and New Mexico.

History of Legal and Agency Challenges of the Roadless Rule

Although the Roadless Rule had unprecedented public support, upon taking office, the Bush Administration immediately suspended implementation of the rule. And after multiple lawsuits were filed against the rule, the Administration began making sweetheart deals on industry lawsuits. In 2001, we joined other environmental organizations to defend the Roadless Area Conservation Rule from attacks by industry trade groups and the new Administration. Click here to read our comments on the 2001 proposal to weaken the protections of the roadless rule.

The 2001 Roadless Rule is currently in effect nationwide, except in Idaho and the Tongass.

We were stymied when the District Court of Idaho preliminarily enjoined the rule; however, in December 2002, PRC and other Roadless Rule supporters gained a tremendous legal victory when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the injunction.

Unfortunately, the tide turned again when the District Court of Wyoming found the Roadless Rule to be illegal in July 2003. PRC and other conservation groups appealed this decision, but before the Court of Appeals reached a decision about whether the Roadless Rules was legal, the Bush Administration repealed the Roadless Rule and adopted a new process in its place in which each state could petition the government regarding how roadless areas in federal forests should be managed. Click here to read our comments on the the state petitions proposal. After the state petitions rule was finalized, we submitted comments to the State of Oregon regarding the importance of Oregon's roadless forest, as Oregon began the petition process. Click here to read those comments.

At the same time, the states of California, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon and 20 conservation groups filed suits against the new Roadless Petition Rule. Click here to read our press release on the filing. In 2006, the original Clinton Roadless Rule was reinstated by a federal court in California! The court issued an injunction preventing the Forest Service from any violations of the 2001 Roadless Rule. Click here to read Earthjustice's press release on the win. In 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the district court decision that reinstated the rule. Read the opinion. Read the Earthjustice press release on the Ninth Circuit decision. Despite a ruling by the court in Wyoming finding that the Roadless Rule is illegal, the California federal court's injunction preventing the Forest Service from violating the Roadless Rule is still in place nationwide, except in Idaho and the Tongass.

Conservation groups also called on President Obama to put a hold on projects in roadless areas that are no longer protected by the roadless rule, due to the Wyoming district court decisions. Watch an ad for this initiative. In May, Obama issued an interim directive requiring all development in roadless areas to be approved by Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. Read a news story about the interim directive.

Click here to learn more about a recent paper by PRC scientists on Roadless Areas and Critical Watersheds for Native Trout.