USDA, Bighorn National Forest re-examining roadless areas

BUFFALO — The future of roadless areas in the Bighorn National Forest and other national forest system lands is uncertain after the Trump administration announced that it would rescind the 2001 roadless rule.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the move to kill the Clinton-era environmental protection measure at the Western Governors’ Association conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in June.

In line with President Donald Trump’s priorities outlined in executive orders – one that orders the expansion of domestic timber production on federal lands and another that promotes deregulation – Rollins said in a statement the rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is intended to allow “fire prevention and responsible timber production.” 

She characterized the 2001 rule as overly restrictive and detrimental to both forest health and economic development.

“This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests,” she said in a statement. “It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”

Wyoming’s congressional delegation and logging industry advocates have all cheered the proposal.

Of the Bighorn National Forest’s 1.1 million acres, 600,000 acres are managed as inventoried roadless areas. In these areas, road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting are prohibited.

Rollins’ action will require environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states, according to the U.S. Forest Service. So, at this point, how the proposal will impact forest management is uncertain.

A little less than two weeks before Rollins’ pronouncement, Bighorn National Forest Supervisor Andrew Johnson told attendees at a forest steering committee meeting that he planned to seek a technical correction to the forest’s roadless boundaries from Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz.

Johnson said that roughly 50% of the forest’s suitable timber base is located in areas designated as roadless.

“If you look at the footprint of fuels treatments and timber sales and forest health work that we did, for example, in the Buffalo Municipal Watershed, we left a lot of what I would call residual risk on the table,” Johnson said at the June 15 meeting. “There were stands that were roaded stands or accessible stands, but were within inventoried roadless that didn’t fit in one of the existing exceptions to the rule, so we were unable to treat them.”

It’s unclear as of press time how the roadless rule rescission could impact Johnson’s petition. Bighorn National Forest officials did not respond to questions by press time.