Overview of Forest Service Initiatives

Overview of Forest Service Initiatives

January 2000

Prepared by Jeremy Anderson, Program Analyst, Washington Office

Forest Planning, Roadless Areas, and Existing Roads

The proposed roadless area initiative, road management policy, and planning rule are three separate and distinct Forest Service initiatives that together form a coherent strategy for dealing with vital conservation issues.  The proposed road management policy and roadless area initiative are two sides of the same coin.  The roadless policy addresses those areas that do not already have roads.  The roads policy addresses management of the more than 380,000 miles of road already in the national forest transportation system.   

Similarly, if the three initiatives are adopted, the planning rule would provide the overarching framework for implementing important aspects of the roadless area proposal and roads policy.  Indeed, all of these policy proposals would be implemented to provide for long-term sustainability, ensure collaboration with the public, integrate science into the process, and incorporate new information and opportunities. 

Roadless Area Proposal

In October 1999, President Clinton asked the Forest Service to begin an open public process to address how  roadless areas within the national forest system would be managed in the future.  Roadless areas have typically remained without roads because of inaccessibility, rugged terrain, low timber values, and/or environmental concerns.  Addressing the roadless area issue is important because:

• Prior to the President's announcement, the Forest Service had received a large number of public comments asking the agency to provide additional protection for roadless areas;
• Roadless areas often provide clean water, wildlife habitat, aesthetic values, recreational opportunities, and other important values; and, 
• The Forest Service would prefer to invest resources in projects that have broader public support, less cost, and fewer environmental impacts than building roads in roadless areas.

• Make the existing forest road system safe, responsive to public needs, environmentally sound, affordable, and efficient to manage;
• Be implemented through extensive public involvement and analysis at the local level;
• Implement a scientific and public process to help land managers and the public identify heavily used roads that need to be maintained or upgraded and roads that are unused or environmentally damaging that can be decommissioned; and,
• Place a new emphasis on maintaining and reconstructing existing roads rather than building new roads, given the extensive road system that is already in place in most national forests.

• Bases forest and grassland planning on the principles of ecological, economic, and social sustainability;
• Requires the Forest Service to actively engage the public and our other federal, state, local, and tribal partners in the management of our national forests and grasslands;
• Integrates science and scientists into the planning process and requires the Forest Service to focus on managing entire ecosystems rather than single species or outcomes; and,
• Integrates planning and management activities more closely so that the Forest Service can respond to new information and opportunities in a timely manner.