Roadless Areas and Idaho

How to manage the inventoried roadless areas in national forests (NFS) has been the subject of debate for a number of years. On June 23, 2005, the State of Idaho announced it would submit a petition to the federal Department of Agriculture requesting specific regulatory protections and certain management flexibility for the approximately 9.3 million acres of NFS inventoried roadless areas in Idaho. As part of that announcement, the State invited affected county commissioners, Tribes, and members of the public to develop specific recommendations for the NFS inventoried roadless areas in their respective areas. Additionally, over 50 public meetings were held and the public was encouraged to send individual comments directly to the Governor’s office for consideration.

To learn more about the Idaho Roadless Rule, please visit the detailed information on the Forest Service Web site

The process brings common sense to management of our forest and resources by providing a system of allows the voices of all Idahoans to be heard and establishes a process to provide stewardship to our natural resources and forest. Is it important that our association members be heard on this issue. Members and supporters should send comments to the US Forest Service. Click on the link to fill in an email to the Forest Service, You can then add your own comments and send to IDcomments@fsroadless.org .

Added comments should address :

to what extent should the Forest Service allow building roads for the purpose of conducting limited forest health activities in areas designated as backcountry;
are the limitations on sale of common variety minerals and discretionary mineral leasing appropriate
will the proposed mechanism for administrative corrections and modifications be sufficient to accommodate future adjustments necessary due to changed circumstances or public need?

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