Your favorite roadless area could be in danger. Not only from the blade of a road grader, but also the logger’s chainsaw and the driller’s derrick.

For Rachael Price, this threat hits home. The Wyoming Range is one of her favorite places to go. “It’s an idyllic little world up there. And it has unique advantages for every season of the year,” she says. Rachael works for the National Outdoor Leadership School, and last summer she took a group of 14- and 15-year-old teenagers up to the Wyoming Range for two weeks.

“We got a feeling of being in a remote and pristine area within a day. We saw amazing high country meadows — full of brilliant wildflowers in early July — enough to make 14-year-old boys stop in their tracks.

ROADLESS RULE HISTORY:

January 2001: USFS adopts rule imposing a moratorium on building roads in national forest roadless areas.
December 2002: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals finds the “Clinton Rule” was properly promulgated by the USFS.
July 2003: Judge Clarence Brimmer finds that the “Clinton Rule” was not promulgated in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wilderness Act. Conservation groups, including WOC, appeal Brimmer's decision to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
May 2005: USFS adopts a new rule (the “Bush Rule”) allowing each national forest to determine the fate of roadless areas.
Also in May 2005: oral arguments heard in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding Judge Brimmer's 2003 decision enjoining the Roadless Rule

“There were at least three herds of elk with over 50 animals. One basin we came upon was simply covered with elk,” she says. She notes that hunters are undoubtedly aware of the bounty of the Wyoming Range, since many hunting camps were spotted along their two-week sojourn. And in the winter, the area offers miles and miles of great cross-country skiing.

But the remote pristine nature of the Wyoming Range, and many other roadless areas in Wyoming, are now in danger. Recently, the U.S. Forest Service adopted a new rule governing roadless areas across the country. This new rule will remove the moratorium on road building in roadless areas for operations such as timber cutting and oil and gas extraction.

How did we get here?
The U.S. Forest Service passed the new rule in May 2005. It is intended to replace the old roadless rule, which was enacted during the last days of the Clinton Administration in January 2001. The new rule sets up a rather complicated process for determining on a forest-by-forest basis, whether to retain the existing roadless areas, or put them to other uses that, of necessity, would involve building roads to access natural resources, such as timber, minerals, and oil and gas.

The new rule attempts to involve the governors of each state in this process, by giving them 18 months to petition the U. S. Forest Service and make recommendations regarding whether some or all roadless areas in their states should remain roadless or whether they should be transformed into roaded areas resembling so much of the rest of our non-wilderness forest lands.

QUESTIONS REMAINING

• Will the Bush Rule be successfully challenged and overturned in court?
• Will the Brimmer decision on the Clinton Rule be overturned by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals?
• Will Governor Freudenthal make any recommendations to the USFS about preserving Wyoming’s roadless areas?
• How seriously will the USFS take the roadless recommendations of any state’s governor?

Litigation over the validity of the new rule will undoubtedly be initiated. A court could rule that the new rule was not promulgated properly, or that it violates federal law (such as the National Environmental Policy Act, or the National Forest Management Act). Such an eventuality may save existing roadless areas, but the outcome of litigation is unlikely to be known before the 18-month period allotted for the governors to make their roadless recommendations.

Freudenthal’s role pivotal to future of Wyoming’s roadless areas So the question inevitably becomes: What will Governor Dave Freudenthal do about recommending retention of roadless areas in Wyoming to the U. S. Forest Service?

At this point, his intentions are not known. He has indicated in the past that he is not a fan of this roadless area recommendation process. He sees it as an unfunded mandate from the federal government, imposed unfairly upon the states. And he does have a point, since each state that submits recommendations will be expected to become a cooperating agency in the forest management process for each forest. He may, therefore, simply decline the opportunity to have the state of Wyoming become involved in this roadless review process. But he may also choose to become involved and make recommendations to the U. S. Forest Service.

What You Can Do

Now is the time for all conservationists to come to the aid of their favorite roadless area. Let Governor Dave Freudenthal know that you have a stake in his decisions to recommend — or not recommend — protection of roadless areas in Wyoming. Make it a personal letter, if you can. Tell him why roadless areas—and particularly your favorite roadless area—are important to you and why you do not want to see it roaded and bladed and scarred

His staff has contacted the conservation community and let it be known that he will listen to our concerns. But he also intends to listen to the concerns of the timber industry, the motorized recreation industry, and the oil and gas and mining industries.

Roadless areas, like those of the Wyoming Range, Salt River Range and Greys River Range, as Rachael Price has found, often offer unique primitive recreational opportunities that are treasured by hunters, anglers, cross-country skiers, backpackers, and day-hikers alike. They can form a much-needed buffer and protective barrier for wilderness from civilization’s negative impacts. Yet their accessibility can enhance their recreational value on a year-round basis. At a time when Wilderness Areas receive enormous use and pressure from hikers, backpackers and horsepackers, roadless areas can sometimes offer fantastic opportunities for solitude, solace and remoteness.