Governor to seek input on forest use

BOISE – Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said Thursday he’ll wait until early next year to ask the Bush administration to consider opening for development millions of acres of roadless federal forest land in Idaho that have never been logged or mined.

Kempthorne vowed to take advantage of the new authority over national forest-land planning recently given to governors. In May, the U.S. Forest Service overturned a rule that former President Clinton had used to protect the nation’s 58.5 million acres of pristine woodlands from commercial uses.

Governors may now petition to nullify land-use plans that stopped development or to have the Forest Service create new plans allowing development.

“I’m going to petition,” Kempthorne told county commissioners, environmentalists, timber industry officials, sportsmen and reporters gathered for the announcement in his state Capitol office.

But he said he’ll wait to hear from people living near the state’s 10 national forests before deciding exactly where new roads should be allowed in the 9.3 million roadless acres – an area almost twice the size of Massachusetts and second only to Alaska’s 14 million roadless acres.

“None of us know what the outcome will be,” said the Republican governor, who in 2001 led a state lawsuit against the Forest Service over Clinton’s roadless rule.

“If we do not have any suggestions of any changes to an existing forest plan, that’s what I’m going to submit,” he said.

“Governor Kempthorne is sending a clear message that we can work together to cooperatively conserve inventoried roadless areas within our national forests,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a news release. “USDA is committed to working closely with leaders in Idaho and in every state that contains roadless areas to determine the best course of action.”

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has appointed a task force to gauge public opinion on roadless areas. Utah and some other Western states are opting not to petition for changes in existing forest plans. The process has been criticized in Montana and Wyoming as an expensive exercise for cash-strapped states who still must get approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to alter national forest land uses.

Because of litigation and the Clinton-era prohibition on development, the Forest Service’s plans to open some roadless areas to vehicles and industry have been in limbo since they were drawn up after a round of public input more than a decade ago.

Those plans called for protecting 1.37 million acres as federally designated wilderness in Idaho, prohibiting road-building on 2.28 million acres and opening 5.66 million acres to timber harvesting, mining, oil and gas wells and motorized recreation.

Industry officials applauded Kempthorne’s petition as a way to end years of uncertainty over commercial access to public lands.

“Our view is that science-based local consensus to build this statewide solution is exactly the right way to solve this problem,” said Jim Riley of the Intermountain Forest Association, a coalition of wood products manufacturers.

“The foundation is set, but the slate is clean,” he said. “We are prepared to roll up our sleeves in the communities where we are active … to engage others in the community about the management of roadless plans.”

The governor designated Jim Caswell, administrator of the governor’s Office of Species Conservation, to assist local efforts at developing recommendations within six months.

Environmentalists said the nebulous details and locals-only solicitation renew fears of backroom deals.

“The process is cooked because the fallback is a recommendation to develop 5 million acres, and we’re not interested in losing half of Idaho’s roadless areas,” said Craig Gehrke, Idaho director of The Wilderness Society.

“If that’s the default, then we’re going to proceed nationally with a legal challenge to the Bush administration’s overturning of the Clinton rule.”

Mark Sprengel, director of the Selkirk Conservation Alliance, said he’s expecting an attempt in North Idaho to roll back roadless protections in the Selkirk Mountains, the home of endangered woodland caribou, grizzly bears and bull trout.

“I don’t think local communities have the scientific expertise to make land management decisions that are technically on national lands,” he said. “There are always those who, out of shortsighted selfish interests, are willing to sacrifice the long-term public interest.”

Among designated roadless areas in North Idaho are portions of the Selkirk Crest, Scotchman Peak in the Cabinet Mountains, the headwaters of the St. Joe River and remote tracts northwest of Priest Lake.