Roadless Rule Repeal

People of California v. U.S. Department of Agriculture


Case Background:


For decades, the Forest Service permitted road construction, logging and other developments in inventoried roadless forest areas. Concern about the environmental impacts of these activities on roadless wilderness led President Clinton in 1999 to direct the Forest Service to issue a nationwide plan to protect these areas.  In 2001, the Forest Service adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule which banned road building and timber harvest, subject to limited exceptions, in the more than 58.5 million acres of America’s inventoried roadless areas nationwide.

On May 13, 2005, the Forest Service published an attempted repeal and revision of the Roadless Rule. The Roadless Repeal eliminates the general ban on road building and timber harvest in inventoried roadless areas and institutes a discretionary state petition process that must be completed before any roadless areas may once again be protected. The Forest Service failed to assess the environmental impacts of the repeal as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act, and failed to consult with federal wildlife agencies under the Endangered Species Act to determine the impacts of the Roadless Repeal on threatened and endangered species living in our national forests.

In response to the repeal, four states and twenty environmental groups including Defenders of Wildlife filed suit. On September 20, 2006, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Bush Administration's repeal of the Roadless Rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act and reinstated the 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule.

Related Documents:

Court decision

Status:


Concluded 11/2006

Co-filers:


The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, Forests Forever Foundation, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Fund, Sitka Conservation Society, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Pacific Rivers Council, Idaho Conservation League, Conservation NW, and Greenpeace