Roadless area protection developments

Paddling in a Superior National Forest roadless area

There have been two recent positive developments regarding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which President Clinton put in place before leaving office in 2001, and which stands to protect up to 60,000 acres of wild lands in the Superior National Forest.

Court upholds rule

In an August 5 ruling, a federal appeals court upheld the roadless rule, overturning an effort from the Bush administration to replace the Clinton rule with a weakened version without doing any environmental review.  Read more about the ruling at the Los Angeles Times.

Obama administration moves to defend rule

On August 13, The Obama administration took its biggest step yet toward upholding the roadless rule by filing papers announcing the Justice Department would defend the roadless rule in a case in Wyoming. Read more about the move via the Associated Press.

A reason to keep the pressure on

Brule Mountain roadless unit in the Superior National Forest

It was a good sign when the Obama administration announced a one-year “time out” on logging in June, which required the Secretary of Agriculture to approve any new road-building projects. But, when a few weeks later Secretary Vilsack approved a logging project in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, it became clear that our last wild lands were not safe, even for just a short time.