Victories

Roadless Rule Repeal Repealed

In Brief: Roadless forests are once again protected -- for now.

Roads to Nowhere

Approximately one-third of national forest lands, nearly 60 million acres, are unspoiled -- and unprotected. A federal rule issued in 2001 decreed that they should remain unspoiled and be put off-limits to road-building and logging. It was known as the Roadless Area Conservation Rule and it was challenged immediately by timber and other resource extraction interests, a few state governments, and their allies in nine separate lawsuits.

Roadless Repeal

In the spring of 2005, after legal wrangles in which Earthjustice defended the rule and the Bush administration refused to do so, the administration repealed the 2001 rule and replaced it with a new rule that lifted protection and substituted a process whereby state governors could give their views on how forests in their states should be managed, effectively taking the 'national' out of 'national forests.' Earthjustice sued, representing 20 conservation groups, joining the states of California, Oregon, Washington, and New Mexico.

Roadless Repeal Repeal

In September 2006 a federal judge found the Bush repeal illegal and reinstated the 2001 rule. In addition, on November 29, 2006, the court ordered the Forest Service to stop work on 84 oil and gas projects and an Idaho road project that had been approved during the five years that the roadless rule was illegally repealed.  This one is a long way from over, but, Earthjustice is in it for the long haul.

Updated: September 29, 2006