Two years ago, candidate Jon Huntsman, Jr. issued a veiled threat: “While some lands have appropriately been designated as wilderness areas, where only nature is allowed, I believe that the majority of our public lands should be managed in a way that balances protection with access.” Today, Governor Huntsman is ready to deliver on his threat. He is prepared to sign a document that would end roadless area conservation on Utah’s national forests— talk of “balance” and “access” as always, is code for unrestricted private exploitation of public lands. Can we talk him out of it?

Utahns take our national forests for granted. I say that as someone who grew up in the eastern part of the country, where every scrap of public land is precious. In Utah we have 8.1 million acres of open land on eight national forests: the Wasatch-Cache, Ashley, Uinta, Fishlake, Manti-La Sal, Dixie and parts of the Sawtooth and Caribou. Recreation is the primary use of these forests, everything from ski resorts to wilderness hunting and camping. The Wasatch-Cache National Forest records as many recreation visits as Yellowstone National Park. Just as important, if not more so, are the so-called “ecosystem services” of these forests, principally their vital and irreplaceable watersheds. Timber, mining, oil and gas, grazing and other commodity interests are a legacy from the past, no longer economically viable without government subsidies.

The heart of our national forest system lies on the remaining wilderness and roadless areas. The High Uintas Wilderness includes half of the total designated wilderness acreage in Utah, but less than ten percent of our state’s national forests are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The U.S. Forest Service determines how to protect the additional four million acres of undeveloped inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) through the forest planning process (US Forest Service map of Utah roadless areas (PDF)). While not all roadless areas meet the criteria for wilderness designation, the agency has been very slow to make recommendations to Congress or take administrative action to save IRAs from development.

Roadless Area Conservation Initiative

In 1999, President Bill Clinton decided to place new emphasis on the problem with a nationwide Roadless Area Conservation Initiative, a two-year rulemaking process that involved more than 600 public meetings and received around four million individual comments. In Utah alone, the Forest Service held 25 meetings and hearings: the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Following a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was issued by the U.S. Forest Service on January 5, 2001. It places about one-third of the National Forest System’s total acreage off-limits to virtually all road building and logging.

Using a range of tactics, the Bush administration has attempted to dismantle the roadless rule. First, the Secretary of Agriculture delayed its implementation. Then the administration dragged its feet in a series of court battles over the rule. They exempted Alaska. Finally, with no public meetings and no EIS, in May 2005 they issued a regulation repealing the Roadless Rule and replacing it with a state petition process.

The states of California, Oregon, and New Mexico filed a lawsuit challenging the Bush Administration’s repeal of the Roadless Rule.

Last month, Judge Elizabeth LaPorte of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California ruled that the Administration illegally repealed the Roadless Rule, set aside the State Petitions Rule and reinstated the Roadless Rule nationwide except in the Tongass National Forest. Following Judge Laporte’s ruling, the Chief of the Forest Service issued an agency-wide directive prohibiting any “further management activities in inventoried roadless areas that would be prohibited by the 2001 Roadless Rule.”

Utah’s State Petition

Under the Bush administration’s state petition process, the federal government will accept state petitions until November 13, 2006. After a petition is received, the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee has 90 days to review it and provide recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture. If a state chooses not to file a petition, inventoried roadless areas within that state will continue to be managed in accordance with each national forest’s land and resource management plan.

As noted above, a federal judge has invalidated the Bush rule. However, the administration can still accept state petitions under the Administrative Procedures Act.

With almost no public notice, Governor Huntsman has released a “synopsis” of a draft roadless petition. According to the Public Lands Policy Coordination Office, the synopsis “is intended to inform the public of the general direction of the petition and provide an opportunity for their input, which will be useful in finalizing the petition.”

What is the general direction of the petition? The petition basically says that the State of Utah does not recognize the need to conserve roadless areas (except for designated wilderness). It proposes that decision making for national forest roadless areas be given over to an advisory committee run by state and local government. Needless to say, this is completely contrary to the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that Utahns supported almost unanimously in 1999-2000.

UPDATE: The Salt Lake Tribune now has the story. They quote Dick Carter of the High Uintas Preservation Council: “This isn’t about roadless areas. It’s a sagebrush rebellion petition.”

UPDATE: Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has an editorial criticizing the draft petition. “In doing this, Huntsman is reneging on promises he made during his election campaign and later to the Outdoor Retailers convention to protect Utah’s unique outdoor treasures.”

Comments must be submitted by October 27:

Roadless Petition Comments
c/o Public Lands Policy Coordination Office
5110 State Office Building
P.O. Box 141107
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-1107

e-mail: PLPCO@utah.gov

Also, send a copy of your comment to Governor Huntsman:

Governor Jon Huntsman
Utah State Capitol Building
Salt Lake City, UT 84114

e-mail: Governor@state.ut.us

More information:

Synopsis of Draft Petition of the State of Utah

Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation

The Wilderness Society