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Roadless plan debated - Idaho proposal seeks flexibility in managing state's wild areas
Becky Kramer
Staff writer, The Spokesman Review
January 24, 2008
John Latta went to sleep on a granite slab in Idaho's Selkirk Crest last June, waking up in time to see a pink and gold sunrise reflected in Lake Pend Oreille.
The Spokane photographer makes frequent treks into Idaho's roadless areas.
"I like to go where there are no roads," said Latta, 55. "It makes me feel lucky, to feel like living is worthwhile."
Idaho is second only to Alaska in sheer volume of roadless areas with 9.3 million acres of national forest uncrossed by gravel or asphalt. In 2005, the state of Idaho petitioned the federal government for more flexibility in managing its roadless areas, particularly where crowded, diseased stands of trees create risks for wildfires.
About 60 people, including Latta, turned out for a Wednesday night meeting in Coeur d'Alene to hear details of the plan. Crafted by former Gov. Jim Risch, the proposal would allow temporary roads for timber harvests and other activities designed to reduce "significant risk" or "imminent threats" to communities and their watersheds.
Risch says the plan is narrowly drafted, designed to ensure that roadless areas keep their untamed characteristics. Conservation groups disagree, saying it would strip away important protections for nearly 6 million acres.
Under the proposal, 3.2 million acres would remain protected, with even stronger restrictions on development than those under existing rules.
An additional 5.2 million acres would fall into a "backcountry restoration designation," allowing temporary road construction under certain circumstances, such as reducing the risk of wildfire near populated areas. The remaining 600,000 acres would be managed as "general forest," with logging, mining and road building allowed.
"It opens up two-thirds of the roadless areas to development," said Mike Petersen, executive director of the Lands Council in Spokane, who testified at the meeting. "Idaho's the wildest state in the Lower 48. People come here for that wildness."
A recent poll commissioned by the Idaho Conservation League indicated 58 percent of likely voters do not believe road construction should be allowed within Idaho's roadless areas, said Jonathan Oppenheimer, ICL senior associate. The poll, conducted by Moore Information of Portland, had a potential error rate of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
In an interview before Wednesday's meeting, Oppenheimer said roads diminish habitat quality, making it difficult for elk and other animals to hide from predators and find cover during hunting season. Water quality and fish suffer when roads fall into disrepair, he said, and rates of human-caused fires increase in forested areas with road access.
The Forest Service has 34,000 miles of roads in Idaho, and a $6 million backlog in needed maintenance, Oppenheimer said.
But Brad Gilbert, the Forest Service's roadless team leader in Idaho, said critics overstate what the plan would do. The Forest Service estimates that just four miles of roads would be built in roadless areas each year, and 800 acres logged.
"We know there are people that don't want a single acre of roadless ever developed, but there are communities that are vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires," he said.
Bonners Ferry is a prime example, according to Gilbert. In 2003, a wildfire raced through the Myrtle Creek watershed, tainting the town's water supply with a smoky flavor and threatening the city. A shift in the weather kept the flames from spreading to populated areas.
The Forest Service worked with officials from the city, Boundary County and the Kootenai Tribe to develop a thinning plan for the watershed, which included logging in two roadless areas with grizzly habitat, Gilbert said.
"This is a classic example of what we're talking about," he said.
But Petersen, of the Lands Council, noted that the Myrtle Creek thinning project was done under existing roadless rules, and he wondered why the rules needed to be relaxed further. He said the new plan would allow roadless areas in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains to be logged for fuels reduction – "and they're 20 miles from the nearest habitation."
Jim Riley, executive director of the Intermountain Forest Association in Coeur d'Alene, said he'd like to see more flexibility to log vast stands of diseased and bug-killed trees.
"Our ideal plan … would look quite different," Riley, who represents the forest products industry, said. "In the spirit of trying to move forward, we are supporting this plan. It focuses on where there seems to be broad agreement, which is treatment of forests that have significant risk associated with wildfires."
Selective logging projects, the kind allowed under the plan, "aren't big money makers for the timber industry," added Serena Carlson, a spokeswoman for the Intermountain Forest Association. "But they're the right thing to do for rural communities."
Wednesday's meeting was one of several scheduled around the state. Comments on the proposal will be accepted through April 7, with a final decision expected near the end of the year.
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