FSEEE is in court defending the roadless area protection rule. Against us are Boise-Cascade Corporation, two Idaho counties, three snowmobile associations, a cattle company, the State of Idaho, the Idaho Land Board, and the Bush Administration. It’s one of the strangest lawsuits we’ve seen in years. Here’s why.
The plaintiffs want more roads, more logging, and more motorized recreation in our national forests. They claim that the Forest Service broke the law when it decided to forego building new roads in 58 million acres of wild, unroaded lands. The Bush Administration agrees with the plaintiffs. It, too, wants more roads, more logging, and more motorized recreation. But the Forest Service opposes more roads, more logging, and more motorized recreation.
We have retained Vermont Law School’s Pat Parenteau, one of the nation’s top environmental lawyers, to represent us in the lawsuit. Pat won for former Tongass forester Mary Dalton the right to appeal a bad Forest Service timber sale and worked for FSEEE on the lawsuit that abolished toxic tree marking paint. His track record is second to none.
This case is especially challenging because the plaintiffs (Boise-Cascade) and defendants (Bush Administration) agree! Both want to see the roadless area protections rescinded. A better recipe for closed-door, backroom shenanigans I couldn’t imagine.
That’s why FSEEE has formally intervened in the case. In granting our motion to intervene, Judge Lodge noted the "unique perspective of Forest Service workers who seek to conserve and protect the national forest environment." That’s a perspective that we’ll make sure is heard loud and clear in the courtroom.
On May 10, the federal court in Idaho stopped the roadless rule from going into effect. FSEEE has appealed—our brief was filed June 12—and a decision from the 9th Circuit is expected some time in October.
The stakes in this case are huge! The fate of over 58 million acres of wild, undeveloped public forests across 30 states hangs in the balance. If the new administration has its way, roadless areas in our National Forests will be opened up for logging, mining, and oil and gas development.
In addition to the loss of trees, other consequences will follow. Precious wildlife habitat will face destruction. Streams and rivers will risk contamination from mining spoils and soil erosion. And the backcountry that is our last frontier will be pushed back still further.
The roadless rule currently stands as a beacon that the Forest Service is not the agency that put timber first, livestock grazing second, and everything else a distant last. If White House succeeds in reversing the rule, it will turn back the clock within the Forest Service. The old guard employees who still yearn for the Big Timber years will be emboldened. They still hold considerable power within the agency’s senior ranks. The roadless rule constrains their actions; its repeal would unleash them.
The roadless area protection rule represents the most significant Forest Service reform effort of the past 100 years! Protecting our last wild, undeveloped lands is a promise to our children and grandchildren that they, too, will have wilderness in which to find spiritual refuge and renewal.
