Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Phosphate mining and geothermal projects could win big under the Bush administration's new plan to carve up the 9.3 million acres of roadless national forests in Idaho.

Idaho's inventoried roadless acres are by far the most of any state in the lower 48 states. Under the new plan, about 3 million acres would be labeled "wild land recreation," "primitive" or "special areas of historic and tribal significance," where most development or mechanized human disturbances would be limited.

The largest designation is "backcountry/restoration," with 5.2 million acres, which does allow exceptions for temporary roadbuilding and emergency actions, as well as phosphate mining activity. About 610,000 acres -- including those targeted for geothermal use -- would be treated as "general" national forest land.

If the rule is adopted, the Forest Service projects 545 million tons of phosphate deposits would be available from 12,000 currently unleased acres. Currently, "opportunities to recover phosphate from Idaho Roadless Areas are negligible," the draft EIS states.

In addition, the Forest Service estimates that 351,000 acres of land with "high potential" for geothermal development could become available.

"Logging's always a threat," said Rob Vandermark, director of the Heritage Forest Campaign at the National Environmental Trust. "But look at the numbers: It looks like they want to open up everything for energy development."

While mineral leases issued under the 1872 mining law were grandfathered into the 2001 roadless rule, new activity was prohibited.

The Forest Service projects about 4 million board feet per year could come off the roadless forests that are opened up to logging, a figure Serena Carlson of the Idaho Forest Association says reflects current poor market conditions.

"We tried to take Healthy Forest Restoration Act concepts and merge them with the 2001 language to try and bring the Idaho roadless rule to modern times," said Brad Gilbert, the Forest Service's team leader for the Idaho roadless rule.

The rule allows timber harvests in the 5.2 million backcountry acres only to protect communities or public water supplies, or "to prevent unwanted fires and be a good neighbor," Gilbert added.

Roadless rule future

Carlson said she hopes the proposed rule with state involvement will end the cycle of roadless litigation in Idaho.

"Traditionally you've seen a lot of management by litigation," Carlson said. "That's unfortunate because you want to see something more positive on the landscape. Ultimately you like to see a better forest, a well-managed forest, a healthy forest."

However, in Wyoming, U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer could at any day determine the future of the Clinton-era roadless rule. Brimmer has yet to rule on a state of Wyoming lawsuit challenging the rule, which critics say is overly restrictive and arbitrary.

Brimmer struck down the rule in 2003, only to have it resurrected in 2006. At the time, Brimmer called the rule a de facto attempt to create federal wilderness areas, citing the lack of an environmental impact statement on the potential effects of placing the land off-limits to roadbuilding (Greenwire, Oct. 18).

The proposed rule and draft EIS demonstrate that the Bush administration is attempting to proceed with revisions to the roadless rule despite the September 2006 ruling. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte threw out a plan requiring states to petition the Forest Service to continue roadless protections. Instead, the agency elected to use the Administrative Procedures Act -- a law that allows interested parties to essentially ask the federal government for a rulemaking procedure -- to allow governors to ask for changes to the roadless rule in their states.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service is starting work on rules for managing more than 4 million acres of roadless areas in the national forests of Colorado.

The draft rule and draft EIS will be published in the Federal Register soon, opening a 90-day public comment period.

Click here to view the Idaho roadless documents.