Forest Road Construction Scaled Back Forest Service Chief Says Maintenance Of Heavily Traveled Areas Trumps New Roads
The nation’s top forester offered further proof Thursday that the era of road-building in federal forests is all but over.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck announced proposed new rules emphasizing the maintenance of roads that are heavily traveled. Roads that are poorly constructed, redundant or little-used would become candidates for obliteration or conversion to trails.
New roads could be built only when there’s a proven “compelling need” and evidence that money would be available for future maintenance. Those needs include public safety and legal requirements to provide access to landlocked private land.
“What do you do when you have 380,000 miles of roads and an $8 billion (maintenance) backlog?” Dombeck asked. “You put the shovel down, stop digging the hole deeper and start focusing on priorities.”
Dombeck made his comments during a Salt Lake City press conference with reporters from across the nation participating by telephone. He ticked off a list of problems created by forest roads, including soil erosion, the spread of noxious weeds and the increased likelihood of human-caused fire.
The proposed rules fall on the heels of October’s presidential mandate to protect 50 million acres of federally owned roadless areas. The rules for that controversial mandate are still being drafted, but likely will include a ban on new roads.
Road construction in national forests already has slowed dramatically due to changing policies and legal challenges by environmental groups. The agency built just 218 miles of roads nationwide in 1998. That compares with more than 2,000 miles in 1988, a fairly typical year during the heyday of road construction.
Historically, the Forest Service built roads primarily for logging. Those roads are used now primarily for recreation, Dombeck said, and some provide critical access to communities.
Pressed by a reporter, he predicted there will be fewer roads in national forests five years from now. But the proposed new rules wouldn’t mandate the elimination of any roads, he noted. Neither would they rule out road construction.
Dombeck said such decisions would be left to forest supervisors, who would be required to analyze the uses and conditions of all roads, then consult local communities before deciding how the roads are managed. The supervisors would prioritize the work.
The spokeswoman for one timber-industry association said she’s skeptical of the process. The Clinton administration has shown through the roadless initiative and other actions that it’s not interested in local concerns, contends Stefani Bales, of the Coeur d’Alene-based Intermountain Forest Association.
“So when the Forest Service comes out now and says don’t worry, this will all be local, my response is, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Bales said.
Environmental groups were cautious, noting that many details remained sketchy Thursday.
“We will look forward to any new philosophy by the Forest Service of maintaining existing roads and obliterating older roads instead of building new ones,” said Dave Robinson of the Kettle Range Conservation Group.