Road-building moratorium loopholes decried

On the Boise and Payette National forests alone, there are 30 roadless-area logging projects planned over the next few years," said Mike Medberry, Idaho Representative of American Lands.

May 3, 1999
Web posted at: 3:36 p.m. EDT (1936 GMT)

Road building continues in roadless national forest areas despite a March 1 18-month moratorium on the activity, according to a report issued April 29 by a coalition of environmental groups.

"The report illustrates the numerous loopholes and exemptions in the current Forest Service policy," said Ken Rait, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign. "It also highlights the problems in overall Forest Service management of roadless areas, which tends to favor timber production over other uses."

The Heritage Forest Campaign is working to protect the remaining 60 million acres of national forest lands of 1,000 acres or greater that do not have roads on them but remain unprotected. The organization views these areas as essential for clean water, wildlife habitat and the biodiversity they foster.

The Forest Service issued its road-building moratorium so that it would have time to develop a long-term road policy for national forest transportation that takes into account the needs of wildlife, the public and industry. However, 15 million acres of forest in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, northern California and 11 other national forests are exempt because they already have revised forest plans that the forest service deems include an adequate transportation policy.

On those lands, the report, "Loopholes and Exemptions: Losing our Heritage Forests," shows how those forests will continue to be eroded by clearcutting, new ski area development and mineral development.

For example, the Tongass National Forest in Alaska is completely exempt from the moratorium and the forest service is currently moving forward with a plan to clearcut 16 million board feet of timber in a roadless area that is home to both black and brown bears.

Targhee National Forest in Idaho is also exempt from the moratorium and will see 1.8 million board feet of timber taken and three miles of roads constructed in the Bear Creek Roadless Area, an area that has been part of the Idaho Wildlands Coalition wilderness proposal for more than a decade.

Loopholes documented by the report show how clearcutting, helicopter logging, development of off-highway vehicle trails and ski area expansion will take place on areas included in the moratorium.

For example, a ski area expansion at Vail Resorts in Colorado will allow a road more than a mile long to be constructed in the Elks Roadless Area in the White River National Forest and 6 million board feet of timber on 600 acres will be logged.

Conservationists had hoped that the road building moratorium would slow logging and other environmentally damaging activities in the national forests, but as Craig Gehrke, the Northern Rockies regional director for the Wilderness Society said, the loopholes are big enough to drive a logging truck through."

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