Thursday, September 21, 2006

National "Roadless Forest Land" bans upheld

U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Laporte (N.Dist. Calif.) yesterday struck down Bush administration parameters for developing some nearly 58.5 million acres of “roadless” National Forest land, reinstating a ban from the Clinton era on road-building, logging, drilling, and other activities, according to an article this morning on USAToday.com. (Also see L.A. Times article)

The Court’s ruling is not going to apply to Alaska’s 9.3 million acre Tongass National Forest, governed by separate rules on development, but also included in President Clinton’s ban.

Ohio, is not going to be affected since it has no federal forest lands. Kentucky and Indiana have 3,000 and 8,000 acres respectively.


Case Opinion

“Roadless Area Conservation “ Final Rule, Jan. 12, 2001
66 FR 3243

National Forests
Forestry Service’s “roadless area conservation” maps

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