Roadless wars

Nathaniel Hoffman writes in the Boise Weekly:

Depending on the vantage point, Idaho's roadless rule, which went into effect in October 2008, is either the end of 40 years of wrangling over roadless politics or the end result of eight years of Bush administration attempts to weaken protections on those federal lands. Five environmental groups, including the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, filed suit against Idaho's roadless rule four days before the Bush era ended, arguing that it allows excessive new road building for timber cutting and phosphate mining and puts endangered species at risk. But the groups also argue that an Idaho-specific roadless rule sets a bad precedent of local control over national wilderness policy. "We all benefit from the fact that these are federal lands and should be managed in the national interest," said Tim Preso, lead attorney in the case. Thwarted in an attempt to repeal Bill Clinton's 2001 roadless rule, which established nationwide protections for more than 58 million acres of designated roadless areas, the feds suggested in 2005 that states petition for roadless rule exceptions under the Administrative Procedures Act. Idaho took great initiative in its petition, first under Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and then under Gov. Jim Risch...