By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – While the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a resolution to support keeping the federal Roadless Rule on the 230,000 acres of White Mountain National Forest this past March, the Trump Administration is going forward with plans to dismantle the 2001 measure calling it a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Some in New Hampshire, like the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association and the Forest Society, agree with the Administration while the Sierra Club New Hampshire Chapter opposes the change.
On Aug. 18, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind in its entirety the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, claiming that it has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work across large swaths of America’s national forests.
“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction. Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” said Agriculture Secretary Rollins. “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands. It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.”
New Hampshire and Maine’s White Mountain National Forest is about 800,000 acres in size and more than one quarter of it is listed as “roadless.”
In March, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 44 on a voice vote.
“This resolution urges support for keeping public ownership of public lands and opposes efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule,” its title reads.
“Whereas, New Hampshire’s state and federal public lands include the White Mountain National Forest, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, designated wilderness areas, state forests and parks, and other conserved lands that define our state’s natural character…our public lands reflect many of our most noble democratic ideals, offering recreational, economic, cultural, and spiritual opportunities to all people, regardless of background, income, or geography…(and) provide defining features of our shared heritage: from the Presidential Range and Franconia Notch to historic trails like the Crawford Path, and the mills, farmsteads, and stone walls that tell the story of our communities….Whereas, attempts to open roadless areas to industrial development and road-building threaten New Hampshire’s treasured landscapes and are inconsistent with the values and interests of Granite Staters; now, therefore, be it resolved…that the House of Representatives…Declares our support for keeping our public lands in public hands through the stewardship of the United States government and its federal land management agencies, including the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management,” it reads.
According to a statement by the USDA, the Roadless Rule restricted road construction and limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas. Today, that includes more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System.
“The rescission is intended to prioritize local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs,” it states.
The agency will seek public comment on the proposal and on a draft of the environmental impact statement.
The rescission removes national designation of roadless areas but does not mandate timber cutting or road construction. The action removes regulatory burden and sends decisions about roadless areas to the local national forest managers.
That is exactly where the decision making should lie, said Jasen Stock, executive director of the NH Timberland Owners Association https://nhtoa.org/ which represents loggers, truckers, forestry companies and landowners in the Granite State.
He said the roadless rule was a “real thumb in the eye to those who worked on” the White Mountain National Forest Plan, which acre by acre decide what the land can be used for.
He said people think improperly that the roadless areas are all wilderness areas and that is not the case, he said.
The rule does not prohibit logging but essentially makes it impractical and there are “loosey goosey” aspects to it including the concept of “winter roads” or seasonal roads which allow logging in winter months. He said the Trump proposal is “a step in the right direction.”
Stock’s position is shared by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests.
Jack Savage, president of the Forest Society wrote Brad Kinder, acting director of ecosystem management coordination at the U.S. Forest Service, to say that it also opposed the implementation of the 2001 Roadless Rule.
“We argued at the time that a federal one size fits all policy directive should not override the planning process….”
“The overarching goal must be to sustain the health, diversity and resiliency of the national forests while continuing the commitment to balancing the multi-uses within the forests,” he wrote in his letter almost a year ago. “Given that the policy has now been in effect for nearly twenty-five years, it is appropriate for the Forest Service to proceed with an (Environmental Impact Statement) in order to determine if incremental changes or a full recission is needed.”
But the Sierra Club New Hampshire responded to the plan, initiating a 30 day public comment period beginning Aug. 18.
“During this time, the public will be able to urge the Forest Service to maintain the rule that protects undeveloped roadless areas across the country, including well-known locations in New Hampshire, such as Mount Chocorua in the Sandwich Range Mountains, Lincoln Woods Trail off the Kancamagus Highway, the Appalachian Trail on Mount Moosilauke, and Liberty Springs Trail from Franconia Notch State Park,” the statement reads.
“The comment period will last for only 30 days, a strikingly short amount of time compared to the hundreds of public hearings across the country over 18 months when the rule was originally proposed in 2001,” the statement reads.
If the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is repealed, over 230,000 acres of roadless areas in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire and Maine will lose protections and could be opened to new road building, mining, drilling, and logging. In Vermont, there are 25,000 Roadless acres in the Green Mountain National Forest.
Catherine M. Corkery, Sierra Club New Hampshire Chapter Director, issued the following statement:
“For over 20 years, the Roadless Rule has provided stability for families to explore public lands in the White Mountain National Forest in Maine and New Hampshire. Annually, millions of people come from across the region and around the world just to be in these wild woods. We also depend on the clean air and clean water filtered down from the tallest peaks. The local and migrating wildlife find refuge in all seasons. The forest is the heart of New Hampshire.
“All the while, the local economy has flourished with the Roadless Rule in place. Despite the Trump Administration’s suggestions that this action will ‘unleash prosperity,’ repealing the Roadless Rule will do anything but that, and New Hampshire’s environment and communities will be worse off.”
The AMC issued a statement: “AMC practices responsible and science-based forest management on our own lands, and believes that nationwide protections complement this work. The 2001 Roadless Rule provides targeted work needed for forest health, habitat restoration, public safety, and wildfire response. We encourage the USDA to retain this safeguard to ensure clean water, wildlife, and recreation for future generations.”
More than 95 percent of inventoried roadless areas are in 10 Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The proposed rule does not apply to national forests in Colorado and Idaho because those lands are under separate state-specific roadless regulations.
To comment on the proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement, go to Regulations.gov. Public comments must be received by midnight on Sept. 21. Information will be available Aug. 19 on the Forest Service Roadless Areas webpage.