Forest Roads Policy Lambasted Labor, Industry, Politicians Rail Against Road-Building Moratorium

When the U.S. Forest Service invited the public to comment on its proposed roadless policy Thursday, opponents brought their own microphone.

While U.S. Forest Service employees handed out public comment forms inside the building, timber workers, politicians and industry representatives rallied against the policy outside.

Pronouncing Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck’s name “Dumb-back,” Idaho Attorney General Al Lance accused the agency leadership of ignoring its own commitment to a collaborative process by its “unilateral rule-making.”

Lance called the temporary moratorium on road building in the forests “a done deal” despite the fact that Forest Service officials say it’s only a proposal.

“The public hearings are an annoying hoop for them to jump through,” Lance said.

The Forest Service is planning an 18-month moratorium on road construction in roadless areas to give the agency time to come up with a road-building plan. The open house Thursday afternoon at the Panhandle National Forests headquarters in Coeur d’Alene was one of two public meetings on the policy being conducted in Idaho. The other is Saturday in Boise.

Critics worry that the temporary moratorium will become permanent policy, having an impact on jobs and recreation in Idaho’s forests.

“It’s not just a mining issue or a timber issue. Those roads are the arteries to our hunting, fishing, recreation and use of our own land,” Lance said amid cheers from about 100 protesters, many carrying signs with messages such as “Don’t lock us out of our forests.”

Dave Whaley, president of the Idaho state AFL-CIO, said the policy could affect as many as 20,000 timber-related jobs in Idaho.

“It’s not a moratorium that’s for the working families in the state of Idaho at all,” he said. “You’re talking whole communities being shut down.”

Only about 2 million board feet of timber would be affected in the Panhandle National Forests, but the impact would be greater in the Clearwater and Nez Perce national forests.

That’s why Bill Mulligan, owner of Three Rivers Timber in Kamiah, Idaho, is passionate about the issue.

“We do not have a company-owned timber base,” Mulligan said.

He said he worries that wording in the temporary policy allowing the Forest Service to make “special” areas off-limits to road building is too ambiguous.

“That would allow them to shut down any area that they wanted,” he said.

However, not everyone in the crowd milling around outside the Forest Service offices was opposed to the roadless policy. About two dozen environmentalists took turns behind a table with literature, a blown-up photo of clearcuts and a sign that read, “Stop welfare logging now!”

“The real value of the remaining pockets of roadless areas is that they provide an opportunity for people to discover the mystery of the woods,” said Mark Solomon of the Lands Council and the Idaho Conservation League.

“We’ve got lots of tree farms already,” he said.

While Lance and other opponents complained that the open house was merely a formality, Panhandle National Forests supervisor Dave Wright said that’s not the case.

“They’re certainly being heard by me today,” he said. “These are definitely proposed rules or policy. They’re not fixed in any way, shape or form.”

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