This bill would give lasting protection to areas of the National Forest System that are covered by the Roadless Rule. It defines "inventoried roadless area" as places where road building, road rebuilding, or logging are controlled by the Roadless Rule. The Roadless Rule is identified as 36 C.F.R. part 294 (adopted January 12, 2001) with later modifications for Idaho and Colorado. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, not to allow road construction, road reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area where those activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule.
If passed, the bill would keep in place the Roadless Rule's limits on road building and some logging inside inventoried roadless areas. The bill says it is intended to work within the Forest Service's multiple-use mission and says it does not impose new limits on areas outside inventoried roadless areas. The bill identifies protections for watersheds, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and sites important for Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
The bill text includes a finding that the Forest Service has a road maintenance backlog estimated at $5,980,000,000 for a 368,102-mile road system. The bill itself does not include a budget or specific funding provisions. No publicly available information on the bill's overall cost or budgetary effects is included in the provided text.
The bill's findings say protecting inventoried roadless areas preserves healthy watersheds and drinking water, supports recreation and local recreation-based economies, helps maintain fish and wildlife habitat, slows landscape fragmentation and invasive species spread, and can reduce wildfire risk. The findings also note that mechanized travel is allowed in many roadless areas, that protection is meant to fit within multiple-use management, and that continued protection can allow hydropower development.
No publicly available information.