Roadless forests in Idaho were excluded from an Obama administration decision to place a one-year moratorium on road building and other developments on 50 million acres of federally owned roadless areas.
On Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced no developments or logging would be permitted in the nation's roadless areas unless approved by him while the administration reviews its roadless policy.
The ban on road building essentially puts the 2001 Clinton-era roadless rule at least temporarily back in play. The rules governing federal roadless areas have been in limbo following contradicting court cases, one reinstating the Clinton rule and another overturning it.
Roadless areas in Idaho were not included in the order because the state successfully pushed its own rules for governing the wild areas in 2006. Sen. Jim Risch, who was governor at the time, led a collaborative effort aimed at crafting a state-driven protection plan for the 9.3 million roadless acres in the state. Risch submitted the
Idaho rule to the federal government, where it went through the administrative rule-making process and was adopted.
"Idahoans worked hard through a collaborative process to put together a roadless plan that made sense for our state. It was a plan crafted by a variety of wildland users and interest groups that built in higher levels of protection for some lands that truly deserved it, and allowed multiple use of other lands where it fit. This is how conflicts in public lands management should be resolved, and not by politics and a "one size fits all" approach by those in Washington, D.C.," Risch said.
The Idaho rule puts more stringent protections in place than does the Clinton rule for 3.2 million acres of roadless areas in the state. Another 5 million acres have protections similar to the Clinton rule and 400,000 acres were converted back to multiple-use where roads and other developments can occur.
Environmental groups were split over the administration's decision to leave the Idaho roadless rule in place. Some groups such as the Wilderness Society, Lands Council, Natural Resource Defense Council and the Sierra Club are challenging the Idaho rule in court. John McCarthy of the Wilderness Society at Boise praised the decision by Vilsack but was disappointed Idaho was not included.
"We lost protection for 400,000 acres of roadless lands where they are trying to put in phosphate mines and roads," he said "No other state in the country lost any protection for any roadless lands, so it doesn't seem to be a great deal to me."
But others, like Chris Wood of Trout Unlimited at Washington, D.C., said roadless areas in Idaho are already protected, in some cases to a greater degree than roadless areas in other states, and it was the right move to leave the rule in place.
"It just depends if you view the glass has half full or half empty. Idaho lost 400,000 acres but gained protection greater than (the) '01 rule for 3.2 million acres. The eight exceptions we built into (the) '01 rule do not apply to those 3.2 million acres. It's the highest level of roadless protection you can have short of wilderness."
He added that the Idaho rule enjoys the support of a diverse array of interests in the state.
Wood helped write the Clinton roadless rule as an aid to then Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck and later served on a national committee that oversaw the implementation of Idaho's roadless rule. Both he and McCarthy said it is unclear if the move to exclude Idaho from the moratorium signals the administration's support for the state-crafted roadless rule or if Idaho was excluded because the rule is already on the books. That will become more clear when it comes time for the administration to defend the Idaho rule in court.
"I can not speak for the administration but I think they are wholly impressed by the amount of collaboration and hard thinking that went into that rule," he said. "We are encouraging them to look at the protection the rule affords and to keep the rule in place."
Wood advised Obama's transition team and was seen by many as a natural choice to serve as undersecretary of agriculture in the current administration. However, since he was registered as a lobbyist for Trout Unlimited he was not considered for the position.
Colorado also crafted a roadless rule specific to that state. But unlike Idaho's rule it was not finalized and the Obama administration chose to disregard it.
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Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273.
