Congress considers road decommissioning plan

Sun., June 24, 2007

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

MISSOULA – Congress is considering a new $65 million program to decommission roads the U.S. Forest Service either doesn’t want or didn’t authorize.

The agency currently faces a $10 billion backlog of road maintenance needs and has struggled for years to find the money to keep up its 400,000 miles of road that crisscross national forest land.

The “Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative” being considered by the U.S. House would set aside funding for road decommissioning, road and trail repair and maintenance, and the removal of fish barriers.

The program is part of a bill that funds the Interior Department and Forest Service. It successfully passed the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month and could be considered by the full House as early as this week.

The Senate version of the bill includes language addressing the decommission issue.

“This is the first time Congress would set aside money specifically for decommissioning roads,” said Bob Ekey, regional director of The Wilderness Society. “It’s a very important issue for the Northern Rockies. The Forest Service doesn’t have the funding to keep up with road maintenance. A lot of these roads just continue to bleed sediment into streams.”

An estimated 25,000 miles of poor or unauthorized roads line the 13 national forests in the Forest Service’s Northern Region – which includes Montana, North Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota.

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