Development halts while ‘roadless rules’ are drawn up

One month after 450 incensed citizens filled the Pinedale High School Auditorium to voice opposition against the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), an innocuous memorandum has halted road building on Forest Service (FS) managed lands. On May 28 the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued Memorandum 1042-154 requiring all new roads built on FS land to first be approved by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. The stipulation is expected to halt new development on 58.5 million acres of FS land, although ongoing approved activity is allowed. The rule will be in effect for one year. During that time, the USDA plans to develop a long-term roadless policy. Considering the uproar created by NREPA, the new rule was implemented with a whimper. Sierra Hellstrom, FS Intermountain Region public affairs specialist in Ogden, Utah, said the Sublette Examiner was the first news organization to call about the rule. “It has been really quiet,” she said. Even the memorandum is unassuming. The one-page document simply states: “The purpose of this Memorandum is to reserve to the Secretary decision-making authority over the construction and reconstruction of roads and the cutting, sale, or removal of timber in inventoried roadless areas…” It does not stipulate exceptions for fire control. “There hasn’t been any direction in case of an emergency,” Hellstrom said, adding the agency is waiting for those specifics. “We don’t like to speculate until we have direction from the Washington office.”...SubletteExaminer