The Lands Council works to protect roadless areas from development and resource extraction, and promotes Congressional designation of Wilderness in full consistency with the Wilderness Act.

10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds 2001 Roadless Rule:

A federal circuit court's decision to uphold a controversial Clinton administration rule barring most road building and logging on nearly 50 million federal acres is seen as a huge conservation victory. The decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver was a blow to Wyoming, mining companies and off-highway vehicle users who argued the 2001 rule created de facto wilderness and violated the National Environmental Policy Act.

Environmental groups praised the decision to uphold the Clinton rule, which one attorney compared to President Theodore Roosevelt's decision to open the nation's first wildlife refuge or Congress' decision to create the nation's first national park.

"It was a fight that was well worth the effort," Tim Preso, an attorney for Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont., said of what has become a decade long legal battle. "These are some the most ecologically important lands that we have in this nation."

In Idaho, the legal battle isn't over with a challenge by The Lands Council, Wilderness Society and Greater Yellowstone Coalition still pending in the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Idaho is the only state to create their own rule during the Bush Administration.  The State of Alaska also has a challenge to the rule pending.

The Clinton rule bars most logging and road building on about 58 million acres of national forests and grasslands but allows some exceptions, including when fire or other catastrophic events threaten human lives or property.

Read a recent news article about the Columbia Highlands Initiative! (July 7, 2011)

Learn about our legal efforts to protect Roadless Lands on national forests in Idaho!

For more information contact our Forest Policy Director, Jeff Juel at (509) 209-2401, or at jjuel@landscouncil.org.