Court Rejects Rule Prohibiting Roads in Designated Areas

     The United States District Court (D. Wy.) recently addressed (Wyoming v US Department of Agriculture 07CV17B) the State of Wyoming's challenge to the adoption of the Roadless Area Conservation Final Rule ("Roadless Rule"), 66 Fed. Reg. 3244-3272 (Jan. 12, 2001), which was promulgated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Forest Service.  The Roadless Rule prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas, and is applicable on a nationwide basis.  The Roadless Rule affects 58.5 million acres, which is approximately 31 percent of National Forest System lands.

     The Court found that the Roadless Rule was promulgated in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wilderness Act, which required that it be set aside.  The Court noted that the Wilderness Act's purpose is to prescribe the procedure for designation of wilderness areas and to divest that authority from the Department of Agriculture.  The Court found the designation of 58.5 million acres as "roadless areas" to be a "thinly veiled attempt to designate' wilderness areas' in violation of the clear and unambiguous process established by the Wilderness Act for such designation."  The Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief is attached.

     This article was authored by Kristi J. Livedalen, Jackson Kelly PLLC. For more information on the author see here.