Forest Service Proposes Protection of 60 Million Acres of Wildland.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2000 - U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Mike Dombeck, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, today announced the release of the Roadless Area Conservation Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS identifies the Forest Service preferred alternative for protecting nearly 60 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in national forests and grasslands. A final rule will be issued after December 18, 2000, based upon information in the FEIS.

"Never before have the American people so actively participated in helping to decide how their public lands should be managed," Glickman said. "The fact that more than 1.5 million comments were received from Americans show that these truly are all of the people’s lands, not just a few, and they care deeply about how they are cared for."

Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck noted that the preferred alternative "preserves options and leaves future generations choices about how these unfragmented wildlands should be managed."

The preferred alternative would:

Prohibit road construction and reconstruction on 49.2 million acres of inventoried roadless areas, increasing to 58.5 million acres in April 2004 when the Tongass National Forest is included;

Prohibit timber harvesting except for clearly defined stewardship purposes in inventoried roadless areas; and

Allow road construction when necessary for public safety and resource protection.

Stewardship purpose timber harvests would occur only where they maintain or improve roadless characteristics and also improve habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, or sensitive species; reduce the risk of uncharacteristically severe fire; or restore ecological structure, function, and processes.

"Conservation leadership requires that we stand up for the values and lands entrusted to our care by the American people," Dombeck said. "Creation of the National Forest System by Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt, although unpopular with some at the time, is today viewed as an enduring victory for conservation. It is my firm belief future generations will regard this proposal in the same light." Dombeck went on to thank, "the thousands of Forest Service employees who worked tirelessly to make this day possible."

In developing the roadless plan, the Forest Service sought public input by holding over 600 public meetings across the nation. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in this public process, generating over 1.6 million written and verbal responses that were considered in the analysis and recommendation.

The four-volume FEIS has been posted on the http://www.roadless.fs.fed.us/ website. Printed copies will be available for review at all Forest Service offices and 10,000 public and municipal libraries nationwide. Also, copies of the FEIS on CD, printed versions of the FEIS or a summary can be ordered via a toll-free information line at 1-800-384-7623 or 1-703-605-5299.