Roadless Areas

The Roadless Area Conservation Policy protects federal unroaded lands like Bear Mountain in the Wild Sky area. Photo by Tim Greyhavens.

Some of the most beautiful wild country in Washington is in unprotected roadless areas: peaks such as Golden Horn, in the Liberty Bell Roadless Area;  lakes like Mad Lake, in the Mad River Roadless Area; and meadows like Dark Meadow, in the Dark Divide. These are all examples of the natural bounty that roadless areas provide in Washington. Of the 9 million acres of National Forest in Washington, more than 2 million are roadless, meaning that they are undisturbed by road building.

The Clinton era Roadless Area Conservation Policy, also known as the "roadless rule," would have protected these areas from road development and logging. 58.5 million acres nationwide would have been protected as wildlife habitat, a source of clean water, and an enduring resource for hikers. More than 2 million acres in Washington would have been included in the plan.

Upon taking office, the Bush administration abandoned the Roadless Area Conservation Policy by not defending it against legal challenges, casting the fate of these unroaded acres into the legal unknown. The administration then gave state Governors significant say over which federal roadless areas are to be protected, and in which areas road building would be allowed. This set a dangerous precedent, tilting toward local control of a national resource.

That was the story until September 20, 2006 when Judge Elizabeth LaPorte, US Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California, set aside the Bush administration policy and reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Policy, claiming that the administration failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and conduct an environmental review. With conflicting ruling following this the future of roadless areas was unclear.  Then in May of 2009 the Obama administration to uphold the previous Roadless Rule.

President Obama has called for a one-year moratorium on road-building and development on millions of acres of national forest roadless areas. As announced by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the directive states that for one year, no road construction or removal of timber can take place without the Secretary’s approval in the over 45 million acres of National Forests protected by the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Activists are now working to make this moratorium perminate.