News Release
January 16, 2007
For immediate release
Contact: Will Boyd, 540-547-3901 (DC Metro area through Sunday, January 20)
Idahoans Address Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee
Contingent from Idaho Speaks for full protection of the Nation’s public wildands in Idaho
Nearly twenty citizens from the state of Idaho spoke to the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee this afternoon in Washington, DC.
Citizens included Sam Penny, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe, Will Boyd, Education Director, Friends of the Clearwater, Moscow, Scott Stouder of Trout Unlimited and Brad Brooks with The Wilderness Society in Boise.
Lt. Governor James Risch introduced the session, which initiates the public comment period on the Idaho proposed rule, open until April 7. The Idaho State Roadless effort is being led by Lt. Governor Risch and the US Forest Service. All inventoried roadless lands in the nation are currently protected by the 2001 Rule, which was upheld by federal district court last year.
The Clearwater River drainage in north-central Idaho, the most important for forest carnivores in the U.S. Portion of the Yellowstone to Yukon region, according to a World Wildlife Fund report done in 2000 by Paul Paquet and Reed Noss, would be dramatically impacted by the changes put forward in the Idaho proposed rule.
The proposed Idaho rule is a result of exploitation of a loophole in the Administrative Procedures Act, allowing any citizen to petition the federal government for any reason. Most petitions put forward by citizens are never responded to or simply result in a form letter to the petitioning individual.
Members of the committee include Jim Riley, President of the Intermountain Forest Association, Geraldine Link with the National Ski Area Association, Adena Cook with the Blue Ribbon Coalition, and Greg Schaefer, Vice President of Arch Coal, Inc.
Under the proposed Idaho Rule 5.4 million acres would lose protection by being placed into a management theme called “backcountry/restoration,” which substantially broadens the discretion of the Forest Service for road-building and logging for “healthy forests” and under the ruse of fire protection.
According to Boyd, “Under this language change the largest and wildest roadless areas of the Clearwater, including Weitas Creek (Bighorn-Weitas Roadless Area) and Meadow Creek, would be open for substantial road-building and logging.”
"Additionally, the range of alternatives considered in this proposal is far too narrow. The 2001 Roadless Rule should be considered the floor rather than the ceiling of protection, allowing for alternatives such as H.R. 1975, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act," Boyd continued.
The Meadow Creek Roadless Area, divided into eastern and western halves down the middle of the creek, both completely free of roads, is the most important tributary of the Selway River for threatened and endangered steelhead and salmon.
The use of temporary roads in areas considered backcountry/restoration by the State of Idaho concerned Kelly Emo, a carpenter from Deary, Idaho, who has been part of a citizen science effort to document the population health of the Coeur d’Alene salamander. “This species is very sensitive to road building. Our preliminary findings suggest that road building is the most significant factor affecting the Coeur d’Alene salamander, which has not been monitored by the Forest Service since 1994.”
Coeur d’Alene salamanders, a forest-listed sensitive species and regional endemic found in the Clearwater, Idaho Panhandle and Kootenai National Forests, like many amphibian species, act as indicators of ecosystem health.
Consensus among the members of the RACNAC is to continue to meet to address concerns raised at Monday evening’s public comment period and during today’s more technical meeting. According to Chris Wood of Trout Unlimited, one of RACNAC’s thirteen members, in reference to conservationists concerns about backcountry/restoration theme, “Language does matter.”
