Law Commons^™

The Roadless Rule That Never Was: Why Roadless Areas Should Be Protected Through National Forest Planning Instead Ofagency Rulemaking, Heather S. Ferdriksen

University of Colorado Law Review

The 2001 Roadless Rule would have barred construction of new roads on 58.5 million acres of national forest land. Within months of its inception, however, a barrage of legal challenges and reversal of policy under the Bush Administration precluded its implementation. Regardless of its ecological merits, the backlash against the Roadless Rule suggests that agency rulemaking may not be the best way to achieve roadless area protection. This comment argues that the traditional process, forest planning under the National Forest Management Act of 1976 ("NFMA "), offers a preferable alternative to agency rulemaking in this context. It also offers recommended …