Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 19.10.1999

National Forest System Roadless Areas

The Forest Service is initiating a public rulemaking process to propose the protection of remaining roadless areas within the National Forest System. This proposed rulemaking responds to strong public sentiment for protecting roadless areas and the clean water, biological diversity, wildlife habitat, forest health, dispersed recreational opportunities and other public benefits they provide. The proposed rulemaking also responds to budgetary concerns expressed about the national forest road system. Building roads into roadless areas is expensive, and the public has questioned the logic of building new roads into roadless areas when the Forest Service receives insufficient funding to maintain its existing road system. Indeed, the Forest Service has a growing $8.4 billion maintenance and reconstruction backlog and receives only 20 percent of the annual funding it needs to maintain its existing 380,000 mile road system to environmental and safety standards. To assist in determining the scope and content of a proposed rule, the agency will prepare an environmental impact statement to analyze: (1) The effects of eliminating road construction activities in the remaining unroaded portions