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Roadless Area Conservation: Ten Questions to Help Guide the Decision Process
On July 10, the Secretary of Agriculture issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking reguarding Roadless Area Conservation. The Department is seeking public comment to help determine the next step in the long term protection of roadless values. Comments to the ten questions below are encouraged. Two pre-written letters are included below to send via e-mail.
1. Informed Decision Making. What is the appropriate role of local forest planning as required by NFMA in evaluating protection and management of inventoried roadless areas?
2. Working Together. What is the best way for the Forest Service to work with the variety of States, tribes, local communities, other organizations, and individuals in a collaborative manner to ensure that concerns about roadless values are heard and addressed through a fair and open process?
3. Protecting Forests. How should inventoried roadless areas be managed to provide for healthy forests, including protection from severe wildfires and the buildup of hazardous fuels as well as to provide for the detection and prevention of insect and disease outbreaks?
4. Protecting Communities, Homes, and Property. How should communities and private property near inventoried roadless areas be protected from the risks associated with natural events, such as major wildfires that may occur on adjacent federal lands?
5. Protecting Access to Property. What is the best way to implement the laws that ensure States, tribes, organizations, and private citizens have reasonable access to property they own within inventoried road less areas?
6. Describing Values. What are the characteristics, environmental values, social and economic considerations, and other factors the Forest Service should consider as it evaluates inventoried roadless areas?
7. Describing Activities. Are there specific activities that should be expressly prohibited or expressly allowed for inventoried road less areas through Forest Plan revisions or amendments?
8. Designating Areas. Should inventoried roadless areas selected for future roadless protection through the local forest plan revision process be proposed to Congress for wilderness designation, or should they be maintained under a specific designation for roadless area management under the forest plan?
9. Competing Values and Limited Resources. How can the Forest Service work effectively with individuals and groups with strongly competing views, values, and beliefs in evaluating and managing public lands and resources, recognizing that the agency can not meet all of the desires of all of the parties?
10. Other Concerns. What other concerns, comments, or interests relating to the protection and management of inventoried road less areas are important?
USDA-Forest Service - CAT
Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City, Utah, 84122
E-mail: roadless_anpr@fs.fed.us
Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments
Please accept these comments on the Roadless Area Conservation, consider them in your deliberations, and include them in the Record.
The only acceptable and truly viable alternatives are to leave management decisions to be made in the Forest Plans. That is where they should be made.
No data is presented to support the assertion that the existing road system is having a significant negative affect on the environment or to quantify that impact. Neither have they considered alternatives, such as doing the maintenance job and constructing roads to minimize the need for maintenance. Many of those roads are gated, used only to support periodic management activities; many need little maintenance because of good drainage and stable surfaces. This infrastructure was designed to facilitate management,protection and access by the American public. It is needed, sound and, for the most part, a valuable asset for the national forests.
There is a big void in discussions about roadless areas, particularly on National Forests. Discussions have centered on whether or not areas should be roaded or logged. Nothing has been said about water quantity. In the West, water is probably more important than roads, timber, or wilderness.
The quantity of water delivered at the Forest boundary can beincreased by silvicultural practices. As an example, if forested areas on the Caribou National Forest were treated to increase water production in accordance with the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station "Dead Horse Experiment," the total inherent yield from the Forest of 658,378 acre feet could be increased to about 790,000 acre feet. That is a lot of water.
National Forest lands that should be treated to increase water production are areas receiving high snow fall. These are generally the same areas currently designated as roadless.
The treatment would require some roading and some tree removal. This would reduce the roadless or wilderness value. Setting the areas aside as roadless or wilderness would preclude treatment to increase water production in the future.
Sincerely,
USDA-Forest Service - CAT
Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City, Utah, 84122
E-mail: roadless_anpr@fs.fed.us
Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments
Please accept these comments on the Roadless Area Conservation, consider them in your deliberations, and include them in the Record.
When the original rule was released earlier this year, I felt that many of us in the recreational community were not given adequate opportunity to express our concerns and ideas about the roadless issue. Therefore, thank you for re-opening this issue for additional input from those of us who care about the environment and who seek opportunities to recreate on public lands. I understand that the Forest Service has a big job of balancing competing interests regarding our national forests. As you work through this process of reaching a consensus regarding the appropriate policies governing our forests, please remember that many Americans enjoy having access to our national forests and the policies embraced should facilitate such access and not deny it. The idea of developing specific management plans for each national forest is a good one. Local communities adjacent to our national forests should have the opportunity to have their views incorporated in whatever management plan that is structured. Too often in the past, the needs of local communities have been ignored by policies for our national forests.
Finally, I believe it is very important that our national forests remain open to responsible recreational activities. Motorized as well as non-motorized sports are appropriate in our national forests provided the proper guidelines for such activities are in place. All Americans, regardless of age or physical condition, should have the opportunity to visit our national forests. Please keep access to our forests open to the American people.
The only acceptable and truly viable alternatives are to leave management decisions to be made in the Forest Plans. That is where they should be made.
Thank you for considering my views.
Sincerely,
| Contacts: | Related Links: |
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Attention Roadless ANPR Comments: USDA-Forest Service - CAT E-mail: roadless-anpr@fs.fed.us |
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