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Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns formally accepted a plan last month to cooperate on the management of 9.3 million acres of national forest in Idaho.
The Forest Service and Idaho will develop a memorandum of understanding based on former Gov. Jim Risch's (R) petition, the first filed after a federal judge reinstated Clinton-era roadless protections limiting roadbuilding, logging and mineral development on 50 million acres last September.
Risch, now Idaho's lieutenant governor, was the first governor to file a petition to ask for less than 100 percent roadless protection in his state, as well as the only governor to present his plan to the roadless advisory committee in person. Idaho's 9.3 million inventoried roadless acres are by far the most of any state in the lower 48.
Idaho's petition provides a case study on how the Bush administration will proceed with the roadless controversy in light of the September court ruling by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte reinstating the Clinton roadless rule and throwing out the Bush administration's petition plan. USDA and the Forest Service elected to use the Administrative Procedures Act -- a law that allows interested parties to essentially ask the federal government for a rulemaking procedure -- to handle state petitions.
USDA and Idaho will draft a memorandum of understanding, which will describe the rulemaking process including an environmental study under the National Environmental Policy Act. The roadless rule remains in effect until the rulemaking process is final.
"It is not often that the federal government moves with such speed, but I am very pleased that they have given quick approval to move forward," Risch said in a statement last month. "The management plan is a common sense approach that benefits the land and the public."
Under Risch's petition, about 3 million acres would be labeled as either "wildland" or "primitive" and would receive protections even more stringent than under the Clinton rule, because no exceptions for temporary roadbuilding or maintenance would be allowed, according to the former governor. About 500,000 acres would be called "general" and treated under the current forest plans, allowing logging and mineral development.
The remaining 5.5 million acres would be designated as "backcountry," which would effectively carry over Clinton limits on roads and logging but has several exceptions for temporary roadbuilding and emergency activity, Risch told the roadless committee in November (E&ENews PM, Nov. 29).
Final rural schools payments
Meanwhile, the Forest Service last week doled out the final installment of funds from a 2000 law designed to compensate states and counties for the loss of logging-related revenue from national forests.
Over $385 million was distributed to 41 states and Puerto Rico, but the lion's share went to Oregon, California and Washington. Oregon received $149 million, California $66 million and Washington $42 million.
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act expired last year and several efforts by Western lawmakers to reauthorize the program failed to gain traction.
Traditionally, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management paid counties 25 percent of forest product revenues from federal lands. But when timber sales, the main contributor to the funds, began declining in the 1980s, counties lost money that go toward schools, roads and other services, leading to the 2000 bill.
Unless a deal is reached at some point, the states and counties must begin planning for life after secure rural schools, which has paid out over $2 billion. Some lawmakers have complained that the lion's share of funds go the West Coast, leading to calls that the funding formula be altered to provide more money to timber counties in states such as New Mexico and North Carolina.
Another key hurdle to congressional action was the search for potential offsets for the extension. While the original bill was approved during a time of budget surplus, the Bush administration and some fiscal conservatives have insisted the extension be fully offset (E&E Daily, Dec. 7).
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