30276 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

36 CFR Part 294

RIN 0596–AB77

Special Areas; Roadless Area

Conservation

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking;

request for comment.

SUMMARY: The Forest Service is

proposing new regulations to protect

certain roadless areas within the

National Forest System. This proposed

rulemaking would prohibit road

construction and reconstruction in most

inventoried roadless areas of the

National Forest System and require

evaluation of roadless area

characteristics in the context of overall

multiple-use objectives during land and

resource management plan revisions.

This proposal is in response to strong

public sentiment for protecting roadless

areas and the clean water, biological

diversity, wildlife habitat, forest health,

dispersed recreational opportunities,

and other public benefits provided by

these areas. This action also responds to

budgetary concerns and the need to

balance forest management objectives

with funding priorities. The intent of

this rulemaking is to provide lasting

protection in the context of multiple-use

management for inventoried roadless

areas and other unroaded areas within

the National Forest System. The Forest

Service invites written comments on

this proposed rule and will analyze and

consider those comments in the

development of a final rule.

DATES: Written comments must be

received by July 17, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

the USDA Forest Service—CAET,

Attention: Roadless Areas Proposed

Rule, P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City,

Utah, 84122. Reviewers, who wish to

send comment by e-mail, may do so by

accessing the worldwide web at

roadless.fs.fed.us and selecting the

comment option. Comments may also be

sent via fax to 877–703–2494.

Comments received in response to

this rulemaking, including names and

addresses when provided, will be

considered part of the public record and

will be available for public inspection

and copying.

A copy of the Draft Environmental

Impact Statement (DEIS), the DEIS

Summary, and other information related

to this rulemaking is available at the

roadless.fs.fed.us website. Reviewers

may request printed copies or compact

disks, as available, of the Draft

Environmental Impact Statement and

the Summary by writing to the Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Publication

Distribution, 240 West Prospect Road,

Fort Collins, CO 80526–2098. Fax orders

will be accepted at 800–777–5805.

When ordering, requesters must specify

if they wish to receive the summary or

full set of documents and if the material

should be provided in print or on disk.

Additional information is available at

the roadless.fs.fed.us website as well as

by calling the number listed under the

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

heading.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Scott Conroy, Project Director, (703)

605–5299.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

following outline displays the contents

of the Supplementary Information

section of this proposed rule:

Background

National Forest System Land Designations

Management of Roadless Areas

Proposed Roadless Area Conservation Rule

Regulatory Initiatives

Other regulatory initiatives

Section-by-Section Description of the

Proposed Rule

Authority

Proposed section 294.10—Purpose.

Proposed section 294.11—Definitions.

Proposed section 294.12—Prohibition on

road construction and reconstruction in

inventoried roadless areas.

Proposed section 294.13—Consideration of

roadless area conservation during forest

plan revision.

Proposed characteristics.

(1) Soil, water, and air.

(2) Sources of public drinking water.

(3) Diversity of plant and animal

communities.

(4) Habitat components for threatened,

endangered, proposed, candidate, and

sensitive species and for those species

dependent on large, undisturbed areas of

land.

(5) Primitive, semi-primitive nonmotorized, and semi-primitive motorized

classes of dispersed recreation.

(6) Reference landscapes.

(7) Landscape character and scenic

integrity.

(8) Traditional cultural properties and

sacred sites.

(9) Other locally identified unique

characteristics.

Proposed section 294.14—Scope and

applicability.

Summary

Regulatory Impact

Unfunded Mandates Reform

Environmental Impact

No Takings Implications

Civil Justice Reform Act

Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public

Federalism

Conclusion

Background

The Forest Service is responsible for

managing the lands and resources of the

National Forest System, including 192

million acres of land in 42 states, the

Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The

system is composed of 155 national

forests, 20 national grasslands, and

various other lands under the

jurisdiction of the Secretary of

Agriculture. The Multiple-Use

Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C.

528) and the National Forest

Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C.

1600 et seq.), direct that National Forest

System lands are to be managed for a

variety of uses on a multiple-use basis

to provide a continued supply of

products, services, and values without

impairment of the productivity of the

land.

National Forest System Land

Designations

The Forest Service used the most

recent inventory available for each

national forest and grassland to identify

the inventoried roadless areas addressed

by this rulemaking. It used land and

resource management plans, other

assessments, and the Roadless Area

Review and Evaluation (RARE) II

inventory. The Forest Service began

identifying roadless areas through RARE

I in 1972. In 1979, the agency completed

RARE II, a more extensive national

inventory of roadless areas. RARE II

built on the data in RARE I, and in most

cases forest plans and other assessments

were built on RARE II. In the limited

circumstances where a forest plan or

other assessment did not have a more

recent inventory of roadless areas, the

Forest Service used the RARE II

inventory.

Using these inventories, the Forest

Service has identified 54.3 million acres

of inventoried roadless areas that are the

subject of this rulemaking (Table 1).

Road building is currently not allowed

in 20.5 million of these 54.3 million

acres. Many are designated as primitive

or semi-primitive recreation areas in

existing forest plans. Road building is

allowed in the remaining 33.8 million

acres of inventoried roadless areas

subject to this rule. Within the total 54.3

million acres of inventoried roadless

areas, an estimated 2.8 million acres

have been roaded since they were

inventoried. The remaining 51.5 million

acres are the unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas addressed in

the rule.

Table 1 also displays the acreage of

Congressionally designated areas and all

other National Forest System lands. The

National Forest System contains 42.4

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30277

million acres of Congressionally

designated areas, such as Wilderness or

Wild and Scenic Rivers. In addition to

inventoried roadless areas and areas

designated by Congress, there are 95.2

million acres of other National Forest

System lands. There are approximately

386,000 miles of Forest Service roads, as

well as other county, state, and federal

roads, in these 95.2 million acres.

However, some of these 95.2 million

acres are unroaded areas where

conservation of roadless characteristics

may be desirable. Under current policy

and forest plan direction, road building

continues to be allowed in a substantial

portion of the 95.2 million acres of other

National Forest System lands and the

33.8 million acres of inventoried

roadless areas.

TABLE 1.—NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM DESIGNATIONS

Inventoried Roadless Areas Wilderness 1

and other

areas designated by

Congress

All other National Forest

Total System Lands Roads

allowed

Roads not

allowed

Acres In Millions ................................................................... 54.3 33.8 20.5 42.4 95.2

Percentage of Total National Forest System ...................... 28.0 17.0 11.0 22.0 50.0

1 Road construction is not allowed in the 35 million acres in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Management of Roadless Areas

The Forest Service presently manages

a 386,000-mile road system that

supports a wide variety of uses,

activities, and management actions.

Areas without roads have inherent

characteristics and values that are

becoming scarce in an increasingly

developed landscape. While National

Forest System inventoried roadless

areas represent only about two percent

of the United States’ land base, they

provide significant opportunities for

dispersed recreation, sources of public

drinking water, and large undisturbed

landscapes that provide privacy and

seclusion. In addition, these areas serve

as bulwarks against the spread of

invasive species and often provide

important habitat for rare plant and

animal species, support the diversity of

native species, and provide

opportunities for monitoring and

research. Roadless areas remain roadless

due to the difficulties in developing

facilities, roads, and trails in rugged

terrain; the high cost of development;

the environmental sensitivity and high

ecological values of roadless areas; low

suitability for timber production;

designated use for unroaded forms of

recreation; controversy associated with

development of roadless areas; and

other factors.

Under current agency management

policies, local agency officials have the

authority to make decisions about road

construction in the national forests and

grasslands on a case-by-case basis.

Agency officials make such decisions at

the local level either through the forest

planning process or through sitespecific, project-level decisions. These

planning processes require

comprehensive public notice and

comment. Additional information about

the current planning process is included

in the preamble discussion for proposed

section 294.13.

Proposed Roadless Area Conservation

Rule

The proposed roadless area

conservation rule has a two-fold

purpose. First, the Forest Service is

proposing to immediately stop activities

that have the greatest likelihood of

degrading desirable characteristics of

inventoried roadless areas, based on

decisions made at the national level

through this public rulemaking process.

Second, the Forest Service is proposing

to ensure that the significant

characteristics of both inventoried

roadless and other unroaded areas (that

is, generally smaller areas never

previously inventoried) are identified

and considered through local forest

planning efforts. The proposed rule

would establish a framework whereby

the Forest Service: (1) manages

inventoried roadless areas partly by

national decisionmaking and partly

through local forest planning efforts,

and (2) manages other unroaded noninventoried areas exclusively through

the local planning process.

At the national level, the rulemaking

would apply to all National Forest

System lands and would prohibit road

construction in almost all inventoried

roadless areas, with a few limited

narrow exceptions. The national

decision process would reduce the time,

expense, and controversy associated

with making case-by-case decisions at

the local forest level concerning the

construction and reconstruction of roads

in inventoried roadless areas, and

preserve options for dealing with these

areas for the future.

The proposed rule also recognizes the

role of local forest decisionmaking for

management of both inventoried

roadless and smaller or uninventoried

unroaded areas. The rule would

establish procedures whereby local

decisionmakers would consider social

and ecological characteristics of

inventoried roadless and other

unroaded areas through their local forest

planning efforts. With respect to

inventoried areas, local responsible

officials could not authorize the

construction or reconstruction of roads

but would retain discretion to consider

appropriate additional management

protection for inventoried roadless

areas. For smaller uninventoried

unroaded areas, the responsible official

would evaluate the quality and

importance of their characteristics,

select those to be protected, and

determine the level of protection

through the forest planning process.

Local officials’ discretionary decisions

would be informed by their evaluation

of the quality and importance of the

characteristics of the areas and their

determination of whether these

characteristics should be protected.

At the national level, the proposed

rule covers inventoried roadless areas

within the Tongass National Forest in a

special provision. That provision

postpones a decision regarding

protection of these areas until April

2004, and specifically notes that the

decision would be subject to existing

statutory direction uniquely applicable

to the Tongass National Forest.

Additional background information is

included in the draft environmental

impact statement accompanying this

rulemaking. The draft statement

discloses information about the

physical, biological, social, and

economic environments relevant to the

proposed action. The entire draft

environmental impact statement, or a

summary, is available at the address

listed in the ADDRESSES section of this

proposed rule.

30278 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Regulatory Initiatives

On January 28, 1998, the Forest

Service gave advance notice of its intent

to propose revising the National Forest

Transportation System regulations (63

FR 4350) to address needed changes in

how the agency’s road system is

developed, used, and maintained. On

the same date, the agency also proposed

a rule to suspend temporarily road

construction and reconstruction in

certain areas (63 FR 4354) and requested

comment. The agency received more

than 119,000 responses. On February

12, 1999, the agency published an

interim final rule, which temporarily

suspended road construction and

reconstruction in most roadless areas of

the National Forest System (64 FR

7290). The interim rule is intended to

provide time for the agency to develop

a long-term road management strategy

and to consider more fully public

concerns about roadless areas and road

management.

On October 13, 1999, President

Clinton directed the Forest Service to

engage in rulemaking to protect roadless

areas that ‘‘represent some of the last,

best, unprotected wildland anywhere in

our Nation.’’ On October 19, 1999, the

agency published a notice of intent to

prepare an environmental impact

statement and to announce the initiation

of a public rulemaking process to

propose the protection of certain

roadless areas within the National

Forest System (64 FR 56306). To assist

in the development of the rule and

alternatives, the agency requested

public comment on the scope of the

environmental analysis, on the

identification of alternatives to the

proposal, and on whether the

rulemaking should apply to the Tongass

National Forest in Alaska.

As part of the scoping process, the

agency conducted 10 regional and

national public meetings and also held

local meetings, which were hosted by

the 127 national forest and grassland

headquarters. Attendance at the public

meetings ranged from as few as 5 people

to over 700; typical registration was 50

to 100 people in most communities.

Total attendance for all public meetings

was approximately 16,000. The agency

has received approximately 365,000

written responses to the notice of intent,

including approximately 336,000 form

letters, from individuals, groups,

organizations, and other government

agencies.

The agency has used these comments

to further refine the scope of the

decision to be made, identify significant

issues, shape the alternatives, identify

possible mitigation measures, and direct

the ‘‘effects analysis’’ in the draft

environmental impact statement. The

six major topics that were identified as

a result of the scoping process include

issues related to: (1) access; (2)

identification of ‘‘other unroaded’’

areas; (3) exemptions; (4)

environmental, social, and economic

effects; (5) the degree of local

involvement in roadless area decisions;

and (6) the impacts to communities that

depend on the use of National Forest

System lands. The draft environmental

impact statement, which accompanies

this proposed rule includes a more

complete description of the issues;

alternatives; and environmental, social,

and economic effects that were

identified as a result of comments

submitted in response to the notice of

intent.

Having considered the scoping

comments and having identified and

analyzed alternatives and effects, the

agency is proposing a rule to amend Part

294—Special Areas, of Title 36 of the

Code of Federal Regulations. The

provisions of the proposed rule include

a national prohibition on road

construction or reconstruction in the

unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas and, during forest plan

revision, evaluation of roadless

characteristics in the context of overall

multiple-use objectives.

This rulemaking is not an effort to

expand the National Wilderness

Preservation System. The Forest Service

recognizes that only Congress may

designate wilderness. The Forest

Service will continue managing

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas within the multiple-use

framework required by law.

Other Regulatory Initiatives

The agency has also recently

proposed other regulations and policies

that address the management of the

National Forest System and how the

agency must make decisions about road

construction in national forests and

grasslands.

Proposed Land and Resource

Management Planning Rule. The Forest

Service proposed this rule on October 5,

1999 (64 FR 54074). This rule proposes

to revise the agency’s regulations under

the National Forest Management Act.

The proposed rule would provide for

the long-term sustainability of national

forests and grasslands, ensure

collaboration with the public, and

integrate science more effectively into

the planning process. The proposed rule

would allow the Forest Service to make

special designations for roadless and

unroaded areas.

Proposed Road Management Rule and

Policy. The agency proposed this rule

and administrative policy on March 3,

2000 (65 FR 11676). The administrative

policy would establish procedures for

making decisions about road

construction, reconstruction, and

decommissioning in national forests.

The proposed policy would require that

the Forest Service incorporate a sciencebased road analysis into other analyses

and assessments and also conduct a

science-based road analysis for any new

proposed road construction. The

proposed policy also would require the

Forest Service to emphasize

maintenance and decommissioning of

roads over the construction of new

roads. In addition, the policy proposes

transitional procedures (FSM 7710.32,

paragraphs 2 and 3) that address road

construction in sensitive roadless and

unroaded areas until forest plan

revision. The transitional procedures

require that responsible officials

identify a compelling need and

complete an environmental impact

statement signed by the Regional

Forester before road construction can

occur in inventoried roadless and other

unroaded areas. The proposed roadless

area conservation rule, if adopted,

would replace the road management

policy’s transition language regarding

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas.

Section-by-Section Discussion of the

Proposed Rule

Authority

This proposed rule is within the

scope of the Secretary of Agriculture’s

authority, as granted by the Organic

Administration Act of 1897 (16 U.S.C.

551), ‘‘to regulate the occupancy and

use and to preserve the forests thereon

from destruction.’’ Congress elaborated

on this duty in the Multiple-Use

Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 by

directing the Secretary of Agriculture to

administer National Forest System lands

to achieve the multiple use and

sustained yield of renewable resources

‘‘without impairment of the

productivity of the land’’ (16 U.S.C.

528–531). Furthermore, National Forest

System management must be

accomplished in compliance with a host

of administrative and environmental

laws. Of particular relevance to this

proposal is the Secretary of

Agriculture’s responsibility for the

administration of an adequate system of

roads and trails on the National Forest

System authorized by the National

Forest Roads and Trails Act (16 U.S.C.

532–538).

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30279

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable

Resources Planning Act, as amended,

directs the Secretary of Agriculture to

install a proper system of transportation

that is both economically and

environmentally sound. Furthermore,

all roads are to be ‘‘designed to

standards appropriate for the intended

uses, considering safety, cost of

transportation, and impacts on land and

resources’’ (16 U.S.C. 1608 (c)).

The Forest Service has regulations to

guide road management, at 36 CFR part

212, in accordance with their

responsibility for management of forest

development roads and trails under the

authority of the Surface Transportation

Assistance Act of 1978 (23 U.S.C. 201,

205). As mentioned previously, the

agency has published a proposal to

amend regulations at 36 CFR part 212.

Also, the Secretary has been granted

broad authority under the Forest and

Rangeland Renewable Resources

Planning Act, as amended, to establish

such rules as he determines necessary

and desirable to manage the national

forests. (16 U.S.C. 1613).

Proposed § 294.10—Purpose

This section of the proposed rule

identifies that the agency’s goal is to

provide lasting protection for

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas in the context of

multiple-use management. That goal

would be accomplished through the

combination of limited national

prohibitions set out in § 294.12 and the

procedural mechanisms set out in

§ 294.13.

Proposed § 294.11—Definitions

This section of the rule sets out the

terms and definitions used in this

proposed regulation. The section first

defines inventoried roadless areas.

These areas were identified using

various forest planning and assessment

processes, including RARE II, forest

plan revisions, and the Southern

Appalachian Assessment. The 1996

Southern Appalachian Assessment was

a state and federal interagency review of

that region’s environmental health and

ecological problems. Roadless areas

were inventoried as part of that

assessment.

These plans and assessments resulted

in the currently mapped configurations,

referred to as ‘‘inventoried roadless

areas.’’ The maps are maintained at the

national headquarters of the Forest

Service and are the official maps for the

proposed rule. In the event a

modification to correct any clerical,

typographical, or other technical error is

needed, the change will be made to the

national headquarters maps and the

corrected copies of the maps made

available on the web at

roadless.fs.fed.us/. Prior to finalizing

this proposed rule, map adjustments

may be made for forests and grasslands

currently undergoing assessments or

land and resource management plan

revisions.

For the purposes of this rulemaking,

the agency is proposing definitions for

various categories of roads. These

definitions reflect the agency’s best

efforts to coordinate the use of these

terms with other initiatives that use

similar terminology. The defined road

terms are: road, classified road,

unclassified road, road construction,

and road reconstruction. The Forest

Service encourages reviewers to closely

scrutinize these definitions with the

understanding that the terms and

definitions used in the final rule will be

coordinated with the terminology used

in other agency initiatives.

An unroaded area is defined as any

area without the presence of a classified

road, which is of a size and

configuration sufficient to protect the

inherent characteristics associated with

its unroaded condition. This definition

also is similar to the definition used in

the proposed road management policy

(also called transportation rule).

A definition is proposed for the term

‘‘unroaded portion of an inventoried

roadless area.’’ This definition clarifies

that the prohibition and evaluation

requirements of this proposed rule are

not intended to apply to the portions of

inventoried roadless areas that have had

classified roads constructed since the

area was inventoried. It should be noted

that the criteria used to identify and

inventory roadless areas in forest

planning (Forest Service Handbook

1909.17, chapter 7) allowed the

presence of certain types of classified

roads, as long as the area, otherwise,

met certain minimum criteria.

Proposed § 294.12—Prohibition on Road

Construction and Reconstruction in

Inventoried Roadless Areas.

Paragraph (a) of this section proposes

to prohibit road construction or

reconstruction in the unroaded portions

of inventoried roadless areas, except for

the circumstances listed in proposed

paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(4) and

paragraph (c). Nothing in this section is

intended to prohibit the authorized

construction or maintenance of

motorized or non-motorized trails of any

size that are classified and managed as

trails pursuant to agency direction (FSM

2350).

Proposed paragraph 294.12 (b) would

allow certain limited exceptions to the

road construction prohibition. The

exceptions in proposed paragraphs

(b)(1) and (b)(3) parallel the exceptions

used in the interim roads rule (64 FR

7290). The public health and safety

exception at proposed paragraph (b)(1)

would apply only when needed to

protect public health and safety in cases

of an imminent threat of a catastrophic

event that might result in the loss of life

or property. It is not intended to be

construed as permission to engage in

routine forest health activities, such as

temporary road construction for

thinning to reduce mortality due to

insect and disease infestation.

The exception in proposed paragraph

(b)(2) would permit entry for activities

undertaken pursuant to the

Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability

Act (Superfund) and other identified

statutes. An example of a Superfund

activity is to correct the bleeding of

toxic chemicals from an abandoned

mine.

Proposed paragraph (b)(3) would

permit the construction and

reconstruction of a road pursuant to

valid existing rights granted in statute or

treaty, or pursuant to a reserved or

outstanding right. These include, but are

not limited to, rights of access provided

in the Alaska National Interest Lands

Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA),

highway rights-of way granted under

R.S. 2477, and rights granted under the

General Mining Law of 1872, as

amended.

Proposed paragraph (b)(4) would

permit realignment of an existing road

when it is causing irreparable resource

damage in its current location. The road

must be essential for public or private

access, management, or public health

and safety, and the damage cannot be

corrected by maintenance.

Proposed paragraph (c) specifies that

inventoried roadless areas in the

Tongass National Forest will be

addressed in a different way, as

proposed in paragraph 294.13 (e). The

notice of intent indicated that the Forest

Service would determine whether or not

the proposed rule should apply to the

Tongass National Forest. The Forest

Service is proposing to delay

consideration of protecting inventoried

roadless areas for the Tongass National

Forest until April 2004, in light of

recent Forest Plan decisions that

conserve roadless areas and a Southeast

Alaska economy that is in transition.

The amount and distribution of roadless

areas figured prominently in a 1997

Regional Forester decision for the

Tongass Land Management Plan. In

1999, the Under Secretary for Natural

Resources and the Environment issued

a Record of Decision for the Tongass

30280 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Land Management Plan in response to

several appeals that identified issues

related to roadless areas and the

qualities they provide. The 1999

decision administratively protected

additional lands from road construction

and extended harvest rotation in some

areas, thus slowing the rate of road

construction and harvest. Currently, 82

percent of the Tongass National Forest’s

approximate 17 million acres is

allocated for land use prescriptions that

prohibit or limit road construction.

With the recent closure of pulp mills

and the ending of long-term timber sale

contracts, the timber economy of

Southeast Alaska is transitioning to a

competitive bid process. About twothirds of the total timber harvest

planned on the Tongass National Forest

over the next 5 years is projected to

come from inventoried roadless areas. If

road construction is prohibited in

inventoried roadless areas,

approximately 95 percent of the timber

harvest within those areas would be

eliminated. Under current

circumstances, use of the Tongass

National Forest’s inventoried roadless

areas for timber production contributes

to the Forest Service’s effort to seek to

meet (within the meaning of section 101

of the Tongass Timber Reform Act)

market demand for timber in the

Tongass National Forest, consistent with

providing for the multiple use and

sustained yield of all renewable forest

resources. However, with the continuing

transition of the southeast Alaska timber

market to an independent bid market,

coupled with the long-term projected

decline in timber demand for southeast

Alaska timber, it is also possible that, by

2004 (when a review of the revised

Tongass Land Management Plan is

required), the long term demand for

timber may be substantially reduced

and market demand could be met

consistent with protecting existing

inventoried roadless areas. Hence,

protection of these areas is excluded

from proposed § 294.12 and, as noted in

subsequent discussion, the decision of

whether to prohibit road construction is

deferred until 2004, as provided in

proposed paragraph 294.13 (e).

Proposed paragraph (d) would permit

maintenance activities for classified

roads included in an inventoried

roadless area; however, reconstruction

that would expand road size or use

beyond the current level would not be

permitted. The responsible official is

expected to apply a science-based roads

analysis when determining whether an

unclassified road is needed for longterm management of National Forest

System lands and should be classified

and maintained.

Proposed § 294.13—Consideration of

Roadless Area Conservation During

Forest Plan Revision

This section of the proposed rule

would require that the responsible

official evaluate the quality and

importance of the roadless area

characteristics and determine whether

and how the characteristics should be

protected in the context of overall

multiple-use objectives during forest

plan revision. Under the Forest and

Rangeland Renewable Resources

Planning Act of 1974, as amended by

the National Forest Management Act of

1976 (NFMA), the Secretary of

Agriculture is required to ‘‘develop,

maintain, and, as appropriate, revise

land and resource management plans for

units of the National Forest System’’ (16

U.S.C. 1604(a)). Land and resource

management plans (also referred to as

forest plans), in large part, furnish

overall programmatic guidance for the

management of individual national

forests and grasslands. An approved

land and resource management plan is

the product of a comprehensive notice

and comment process, which was

established by Congress in the National

Forest Management Act (NFMA). The

land and resource management plan

provides direction to ensure

coordination of multiple uses (such as,

outdoor recreation, range, timber,

watershed, wildlife and fish, and

wilderness) and the sustained yield of

products and services (16 U.S.C.

1604(e)).

Forest plan approval, amendment,

and revision does not authorize, fund,

or carry out any projects, unless

specifically addressed in the document

that discloses the decision. Projects are

implemented through project-level, sitespecific decisions, which are analyzed

and disclosed to the public. The

proposed rule would not alter this

staged decisionmaking system for forest

planning and project decisionmaking.

However, the proposed rule would no

doubt influence decisions made at each

stage by requiring the consideration of

roadless values and characteristics in

the forest planning process. The

prohibition against road construction

and reconstruction in inventoried

roadless areas, as described in proposed

paragraph 294.12 (a), would establish a

constraint on local decisionmaking,

whether at the planning or project

decisionmaking stage with respect to

these areas. In contrast, the language in

proposed § 294.13 imposes no specific,

substantive constraint on local

decisionmaking, but does add

additional considerations at the time of

the revision of forest plans. These

supplemental requirements do not alter

the forest planning and project

decisionmaking processes.

Currently, all national forests and

grasslands operate under land and

resource management plans developed

under the existing forest planning

regulations at part 219 of title 36 of the

Code of Federal Regulations. Plans are

changed by revision and amendment.

The National Forest Management Act

requires revision of plans at least every

15 years, although revision may occur

whenever circumstances affecting the

entire plan area or major portions of the

plan have changed significantly.

Proposed paragraph (a) provides that,

during plan revision, the responsible

official must evaluate the quality and

importance of specified roadless area

characteristics. Proposed paragraph (b)

(1) would require that the evaluation be

applied to the unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas to determine

whether additional management

restrictions, over and above those

required in proposed paragraph 294.12

(a), are appropriate. Proposed paragraph

(b) (2) of this section sets out criteria for

selecting other unroaded areas to be

considered. At the time of forest plan

revision, the responsible official must

determine what unroaded areas are of a

sufficient size, shape, and location to

merit review. It is not the intent of the

agency to create a situation where all

unroaded areas, or areas of a certain

size, must be mapped. The agency

believes that the method of selection or

delineation of unroaded areas for

evaluation under § 294.13 (b) (2) is best

left to the local official’s judgment.

Proposed paragraphs (c) and (d) state

that, following the evaluation of

characteristics required in paragraph (a),

the responsible official must determine,

in the context of overall multiple-use

objectives, whether and, if so, how the

characteristics should be protected.

Proposed paragraphs 294.13 (c) and (d)

are set out in separate paragraphs to

clarify that the requirement to

determine whether the characteristics

merit protection applies to the unroaded

portions of inventoried roadless areas,

in addition to the prohibitions in

§ 294.12, as well as to other unroaded

areas. During plan revision, responsible

officials would be required to evaluate

the characteristics in the unroaded

portions of inventoried roadless areas to

determine whether additional

protection is warranted over and above

the prohibition on new roads. In

addition, with respect to other unroaded

areas, as identified in paragraph (b) (2),

the responsible official must select areas

in which the characteristics merit

protection.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30281

Proposed paragraph (e) identifies

special review provisions for the

Tongass National Forest. The

responsible official would determine

whether the prohibitions and provisions

of paragraphs (a), (b), and (d) of § 294.12

should apply to any or all of the

unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas on the Tongass National

Forest. In making that determination,

the responsible official must consider,

among other things, the provisions of

section 101 of the Tongass Timber

Reform Act. This section, amending

Section 705 of the Alaska National

Interest Lands Conservation Act,

requires the agency to seek to provide a

supply of timber from the Tongass

National Forest that meets market

demand, consistent with providing for

the multiple use and sustained yield of

all renewable resources, subject to

appropriations, other applicable laws,

and requirements of the National Forest

Management Act of 1976. The

responsible official’s evaluation would

be conducted in association with the 5-

year review (beginning in April, 2004)

of the April 1999 Tongass Land and

Resource Management Plan, pursuant to

36 CFR 219 (10)(g). A forest plan

amendment or revision would be

initiated, including full opportunity for

public involvement, if the responsible

official determines that some or all of

the inventoried roadless areas on the

Tongass National Forest merit the

protection provided by section 294.12.

Proposed paragraph (f) is intended to

clarify that nothing in this section

requires or allows a responsible official

to overrule the § 294.12 prohibition on

road construction or reconstruction in

inventoried roadless areas during plan

revision. The prohibitions established in

proposed § 294.12 are permanent

limitations, which may only be changed

through rulemaking, not through forest

plan amendment or revision.

The agency has identified eight broad

characteristics of roadless areas.

Proposed Roadless Characteristics

(1) Soil, water, and air. These three

key resources are the foundation upon

which other resource values and

outputs depend. Healthy watersheds

provide clean water for domestic,

agricultural, and industrial uses; help

maintain abundant and healthy fish and

wildlife populations; and are the basis

for many forms of outdoor recreation.

Healthy watersheds provide a steady

flow of high quality water, maintain an

adequate supply of water, and reduce

flooding. Managing land uses to keep

watersheds properly functioning and in

natural balance is critical to maintaining

watershed health and productivity.

Roadless areas generally have attributes

that promote watershed health,

primarily because minimal grounddisturbing activities have occurred.

Ground disturbing activities can

accelerate erosion, increase sediment

yields, and disrupt normal flow

processes. Roadless areas maintain

healthy and productive soils, which

promote water entry into aquifers,

minimize accelerated runoff, and

provide for a diverse and abundant

plant community important to both

human and animal health. Roadless

areas are less likely to suffer from

human-caused landslides and other soil

movement that fill streams with

sediment and debris and disrupt normal

stream processes. Roadless areas also

have less dust and vehicle emissions,

which reduce air quality, elevate human

health risks, and diminish water quality.

Roadless areas help maintain the high

quality visibility that forest users seek

when visiting the national forests.

(2) Sources of public drinking water.

National Forest System lands contain

watersheds that are important sources of

public drinking water. Careful

management of these watersheds is

crucial in maintaining the flow of clean,

cool water to a growing population.

While some land management activities

are already restricted in designated

municipal watersheds, multiple-use

management is a common practice in

most watersheds that serve as source

areas for public drinking water.

Allowing management activities that

promote roadless characteristics while

minimizing activities that increase

pollution risk are critical steps in

protecting public drinking water sources

and in saving local communities the

financial burden of the additional water

filtration and treatment costs.

(3) Diversity of plant and animal

communities. The diversity of plant and

animal communities and the overall

biodiversity supported by these areas

represent an important part of the

nation’s natural heritage. Unroaded

areas are more likely than roaded areas

to support greater ecosystem health,

including the diversity of native and

desired non-native plant and animal

communities, due to the absence of

disturbances caused by roads and

accompanying activities. Healthy

ecosystems can be characterized by the

degree to which ecological factors and

their interactions are reasonably

complete and functioning for continued

resilience, productivity, and renewal of

the ecosystem. Native plant and animal

communities tend to be more intact in

these less disturbed areas. Roadless

areas also conserve native biodiversity,

by providing a buffer against the spread

of invasive species.

Conserving biodiversity offers many

benefits to society. The public has

recognized the importance of protecting

species and ecosystems for their

utilitarian, subsistence, and intrinsic

values. Important benefits provided by

healthy ecosystems, with diverse

organisms and intact natural processes,

include: (1) conservation of air, water,

and soil quality and (2) sustainable

levels of goods and services, including

viable and desired levels of both game

and non-game species. In addition to

these important reasons for maintaining

healthy ecosystems with a full

component of biodiversity, many

species are valuable for medicinal and

agricultural purposes.

Protecting and maintaining

biodiversity also provides the

opportunity for the appreciation and

enjoyment of natural beauty and gives

future generations the chance to

experience wild places, with their

unique living plant and animal

communities.

(4) Habitat for threatened,

endangered, proposed, candidate, and

sensitive species and for those species

dependent on large, undisturbed areas

of land. Roadless areas function as

biological strongholds and refuges for

many species. These areas help to

maintain native species viability and

biodiversity. Based on scientific

estimates, over 500 United States

species are known, or are suspected, to

be extinct. Of the nation’s species

currently listed as threatened,

endangered, or proposed for listing

under the Endangered Species Act,

approximately 25 percent of animal

species and 15 percent of plant species

are likely to have habitat within

inventoried roadless areas in the

National Forest System. Many of these

areas, individually and cumulatively,

play an important role in maintaining

habitat that provides for species

viability and biological diversity, and

may be instrumental in preserving many

threatened, endangered or sensitive

species.

(5) Primitive, semi-primitive nonmotorized, and semi-primitive

motorized classes of dispersed

recreation. In roadless areas, people

have the opportunity to enjoy unique

recreational experiences that are usually

not available in more developed areas.

These opportunities include the chance

to experience renewal, isolation,

independence, and closeness to nature

in mostly undisturbed settings. The

Forest Service manages environmental

settings to provide, among other things,

opportunities for recreational

30282 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

experiences. The Recreation

Opportunity Spectrum (ROS Users

Guide, FSM 2311 and FSH 2309.27) was

developed to provide a framework for

classifying and defining segments of

outdoor recreational environments,

potential activities, and experiential

opportunities.

The Recreation Opportunity

Spectrum’s settings, activities, and

opportunities represent a continuum

that is divided into six classes:

primitive, semi-primitive nonmotorized, semi-primitive motorized,

roaded natural, rural, and urban.

Inventoried roadless and other

unroaded areas are characterized mainly

by the primitive, semi-primitive nonmotorized, and semi-primitive

motorized classes.

Primitive and semi-primitive nonmotorized classes often have many

wilderness attributes; however, unlike

wilderness, the use of mountain bikes

and other mechanized means of travel,

such as those used by people with

disabilities, can be permitted. In

addition, these classes have fewer

restrictions on motorized tools, search

and rescue operations, and aircraft use

than in wilderness areas.

In semi-primitive motorized settings,

there is little evidence of managerial

control, yet these areas allow some

motorized activities, such as: offhighway vehicle, over-snow vehicle,

motorboat, and helicopter use; chainsaw

and other motorized tool use; and

appropriate motor vehicle use for other

resource management activities. In

addition, persons with disabilities have

enhanced access capability in semiprimitive motorized class areas.

Inventoried roadless and other

unroaded areas may provide

outstanding opportunities for other

dispersed recreational activities, such as

hiking, fishing, camping, hunting,

picnicking, wildlife viewing, crosscountry skiing, and canoeing. All of

these activities and those mentioned for

the semi-primitive motorized class may

occur in areas on the developed end of

the spectrum, but the experience is

different. Roaded natural, rural, and

urban classes are characterized by

increased interactions with other

people, more sights and sounds of

human development and activity, more

management restrictions and controls,

and more landscape modification

resulting from resource management

activities.

Inventoried roadless and other

unroaded areas are the last remaining

relatively undisturbed landscapes

outside of wilderness and similarly

designated areas. The demand for

motorized and non-motorized recreation

opportunities is increasing. As these

lands continue to be developed, the

supply of unroaded lands that are

available for dispersed recreation is

reduced.

(6) Reference landscapes. An

objective on National Forest System

lands is to create and maintain

sustainable ecosystems that can support

human needs indefinitely. To reach that

goal, both human and ecological

processes and their interactions must be

understood. The body of knowledge

about the effects of management

activities over long periods of time and

on large landscapes is very limited.

However, there is an increasing

emphasis on the importance of

obtaining information about large-scale

ecological patterns, processes, and the

impact of management activities.

Reference landscapes can provide

comparison areas for evaluation and

monitoring. These areas provide a

natural setting that may be useful as a

comparison to study the effects of more

intensely managed areas.

Reference areas are not intended to

exclude all management activities. The

management approach used for these

lands should be directed by the

assessment of local conditions and the

questions and solutions sought by

scientists, managers, and the public. For

example, reference areas may provide

useful long-term information about

approaches to restoring historical fire

regimes and fuel loads in the

intermountain West. In this case,

various management scenarios can be

applied: some areas may be allowed to

burn only by wildland fire, some

allowed to use prescribed fire, others

allowed a combination of thinning and

prescribed fire, and yet still other areas

selected for fire suppression. By

applying various management scenarios,

the agency may better understand how

to more effectively manage healthy

diverse ecosystems.

(7) Landscape character and scenic

integrity. High quality scenery,

especially scenery with naturalappearing landscapes, is a primary

reason that people choose to recreate. In

addition, quality scenery contributes

directly to real estate values in

neighboring communities and

residential areas.

Scenic quality is based on two

definable elements—landscape

character and scenic integrity.

‘‘Landscape character’’ is the overall

visual impression of landscape

attributes that provides a landscape

with an identity and sense of place. It

consists of the combination of physical,

biological, and cultural attributes that

makes each landscape identifiable and

distinct. ‘‘Scenic integrity’’ is a measure

of the wholeness or completeness of the

visual landscape, including the degree

of deviation from the overall landscape

character. A landscape that is perceived

to have minimal to no deviation from its

natural landscape is rated as very high

or high scenic integrity. Those

landscapes that are heavily altered may

have low to very low scenic integrity.

The scenic integrity of landscapes in

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas is generally high.

However, altered landscapes, which

exist in some of these areas due to

activities such as mining, timber

harvesting, grazing, and special uses,

tend to have lower levels of scenic

integrity.

(8) Traditional cultural properties and

sacred sites. Traditional cultural

properties are places, sites, structures,

art, or objects that have played an

important role in the cultural history of

a group. Sacred sites are places that

have special religious significance to a

group. Traditional cultural properties

and sacred sites may be eligible for

protection under the National Historic

Preservation Act. However, many of

them have not yet been inventoried,

especially those that occur in roadless

areas.

Roadless areas may have traditional

cultural properties and sacred sites,

which are in a relatively unaltered state,

thereby, maintaining their original

character. There is reduced opportunity

for vandalism, human disturbance, and

unintended damage to these properties

and sites in roadless areas because of

the lack of disturbance in those areas.

Roadless areas also enhance the

ability of groups to continue customary

uses of traditional cultural properties

and sacred sites. For example, many

sacred sites are used by Native

Americans for ceremonial purposes.

These ceremonies may require privacy,

which is possible due to the relative

remoteness of roadless areas.

(9) Other locally identified unique

characteristics. This optional provision

is proposed to provide local officials, in

partnership with interested members of

the public, the opportunity to identify

characteristics that are unique to a

specific area. Inventoried roadless areas

and other unroaded areas may offer

unique characteristics and values,

which are not covered by the other

characteristics. Examples of additional

characteristics might be uncommon

geological formations, which are valued

for their scientific and scenic qualities,

or unique wetland complexes. While

some of the unique characteristics may

only have local importance, others

could have regional or even global

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30283

significance, such as roadless areas that

provide important stopover spots for

long-ranging migratory birds. Such

unique areas may become increasingly

important, as other areas are developed.

Roadless areas may have unique

social, cultural, or historical

characteristics, which are dependent on

the roadless character of the landscape.

Examples of these characteristics

include ceremonial sites, places for

local events, areas prized for collection

of non-timber forest products,

exceptional hunting and fishing

opportunities, or areas of historic

significance.

In addition, the national requirement

to evaluate characteristics of roadless

areas, would safeguard many of the

social values that are associated with

those characteristics. These social

values include: (1) the quality of human

health through such actions as

protecting air and water quality; (2)

experiential values, such as

appreciation of scenic beauty, solitude,

and attachment to places or historical or

cultural sites; (3) natural areas used for

scientific research and teaching; and (4)

other aspects, such as valuing the

natural areas for their own sake or

desiring to leave a legacy for future

generations.

Proposed § 294.14—Scope and

Applicability

If the proposed rule is adopted, it

would apply prospectively, not

retroactively. This provision is essential

to avoid disruption and confusion

among Forest Service officials and the

public. Any project or activity decision

signed prior to the effective date of the

final regulation would be allowed, but

not required, to proceed. The date of the

responsible official’s record of decision,

decision notice, or decision

memorandum would be the

authorization date.

Furthermore, road construction or

reconstruction associated with ongoing

implementation of long-term special use

authorizations would not be prohibited.

For example, all activities anticipated in

an authorized ski area’s master plan,

including associated road construction,

would not be barred even if a specific

decision authorizing road construction

has not been made as of the effective

date of the final regulation. Subsequent

authorizations would remain subject to

all applicable laws, regulations, and

permit requirements. Requests to

expand permitted use would be subject

to the prohibition in § 294.12.

The proposed regulation also clarifies

that forest plan amendments would not

be required when the final rule becomes

effective. Just as development and

approval of forest plans must conform to

existing laws and regulations, forest

plan management direction can be

superseded by new laws or regulations.

The Forest Service believes that

requiring ‘‘conforming amendments’’ to

forest plans would be redundant of the

rulemaking process.

Local responsible officials’ discretion

to initiate land and resource

management plan amendments, as

deemed necessary, would not be limited

by this provision. There may be

instances where local officials elect to

initiate amendment or revision of forest

and grassland plans following final

promulgation of this rule. Forest Service

officials have several mechanisms that

allow for evaluation of forest and

grassland plan implementation,

including plan-specific monitoring

requirements, the 5-year review, the

amendment and revision process, and,

of course, project-level decisionmaking.

A determination to amend or revise a

land and resource management plan is

based on a variety of factors. Forest

Supervisors and Regional Foresters have

substantial discretion in determining

whether or not to initiate plan

amendments or revisions.

Summary

The Forest Service believes that it is

important to protect the roadless

characteristics of unroaded areas within

the context of its multiple-use mandate.

The agency seeks to protect these

characteristics in two ways. First, the

proposed rule proposes to place a

national prohibition on road

construction or reconstruction in

inventoried roadless areas. Second,

responsible officials would be required

to consider and evaluate the

characteristics of all roadless areas,

including inventoried areas and smaller

or uninventoried areas, in the context of

forest plan revisions. Although the

proposed rule emphasizes the

importance of the characteristics of

unroaded areas, it does not propose to

direct local managers to reach particular

results. Rather, it is intended to allow

them the flexibility to consider the

values of these areas in the larger

context of multiple-use management.

The Forest Service invites written

comments on both the draft

environmental impact statement and the

proposed rule and will consider those

comments in developing the final

environmental impact statement and the

final rule. The final rule will be

published in the Federal Register.

Regulatory Impact

This proposed rule has been reviewed

under USDA procedures and Executive

Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning

and Review. The Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) has determined that

this is a significant rule as defined by

Executive Order 12866 because of the

level of public interest expressed in

response to the notice of intent to

prepare a draft environmental impact

statement. Accordingly, OMB has

reviewed this proposed rule. A costbenefit analysis has been prepared and

is summarized in the following

discussion.

Summary of the Results of the Costbenefit Analysis

The agency has conducted a costbenefit analysis on the impact of this

proposed rulemaking. Table 2 presents

the costs and benefits that the agency

was able to quantify or qualitatively

describe. The agency is soliciting public

comment on all categories of costs and

benefits and welcomes information to

further describe these effects. Comments

containing specific data to support

estimates of potential costs and benefits

will be most useful and are more likely

to be incorporated into the agency’s

final cost-benefit analysis. The agency

will make a reasonable effort to further

pursue estimating the costs and benefits

of this rulemaking, and will use the

information gained in public comment

to finalize the cost-benefit analysis to

the extent feasible and appropriate.

Few of the benefits and costs

associated with the proposed rule were

quantifiable, and; therefore, many of the

costs and benefits are described

qualitatively. Although the analysis

does not provide a quantitative measure

of net benefits, the agency believes the

benefits of the rule, as proposed, would

outweigh the costs. Local level analysis

cannot easily incorporate the economic

effects associated with nationally

significant issues. Therefore, the agency

believes the aggregate transactions costs

(costs associated with the time and

effort needed to make decisions) of local

level decisions would be much higher

than the transactions costs of a national

policy, because of the controversy

surrounding roadless area management.

Most of the benefits of the rule result

from maintaining roadless areas in their

current state, and therefore maintaining

the current stream of benefits from these

areas. The costs are primarily associated

with lost opportunities, since the

proposed rule, if finalized as proposed,

would limit some types of activities that

might have occurred in the future

without this rule. Table 2 summarizes

the potential benefits and costs of the

rule, as proposed. The benefits and

costs, described in Table 2, are

associated with the requirement to

30284 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

prohibit road construction and

reconstruction in the approximately 43

million acres of unroaded inventoried

roadless areas.

Potential Benefits of the Prohibition on

Road Construction

Undisturbed landscapes provide a

variety of monetary and non-monetary

benefits to the public. Many of these

benefits are associated with the

protection of ecological, social, and

economic values in roadless areas.

Air and water quality would be

maintained at a higher level than at the

baseline (current management

conditions). Higher water quality

provides a higher level of protection for

drinking water sources, reduces

treatment costs at downstream facilities,

and maintains the value of water-based

recreation activities. Higher air quality

protects values associated with

visibility, including recreation and

adjacent private property values.

A greater degree of protection of

biological diversity and threatened and

endangered species would occur if

roads were prohibited in inventoried

roadless areas as opposed to the

baseline. As a result, ecological values

would be maintained. Passive use

values related to the existence of

biological diversity and threatened and

endangered species would be

maintained, as well as values associated

with protecting these areas for future

generations.

A number of other benefits are

associated with maintaining healthy

wildlife and fish populations at a level

higher than at the baseline. Some game

species are likely to benefit from this

protection, which would maintain

quality hunting and fishing experiences

both within the unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas and beyond.

Other types of recreation experiences,

such as wildlife viewing, also would

benefit.

Roadless areas are important in

providing remote recreation

opportunities. A greater number of acres

in these recreation settings would be

maintained than at the baseline. Remote

areas are also important settings for

many outfitter and guide services.

Maintaining these areas increases the

ability of the agency to accommodate

additional demand for these types of

recreation special use authorizations.

Roadless areas provide a remote

recreation experience without the

activity restrictions of wilderness use

(for example, off-highway vehicle use

and mountain biking). Maintaining

roadless areas would likely lessen

pressure on wilderness areas compared

to the baseline.

The risk of introducing non-native

invasive species would be reduced if

road access were not available. This is

beneficial to grazing permittees with

allotments in roadless areas, and to

collectors of non-timber forest products

because forage quality and quantity, and

forest products that cannot compete

with invasive species would be

maintained. The reduced probability of

introduction would also be beneficial to

forest health in inventoried roadless

areas, and would contribute to the

maintenance of biological diversity.

Some planned timber sales into the

unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas would likely be below

cost. To the extent that these sales

would not take place, a financial

efficiency savings would be realized.

Implementing the rule, as proposed,

could result in agency cost savings.

First, local appeals and litigation about

some management activities in roadless

areas could be reduced, which would

avoid future costs. Secondly, the

reduction in miles of roads constructed

would reduce the number of miles the

agency is responsible for maintaining,

resulting in avoiding up to an additional

$565,000 per year of costs.

Potential Costs of the Prohibition on

Road Construction

The prohibition on road construction

and reconstruction would reduce

roaded access to resources within the

unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas compared to the baseline.

Roads are required for most timber sales

to be economically feasible. For those

sales that are financially profitable, the

proposed rule would reduce net

revenues. In addition to lost revenue,

there would be fewer jobs (250 direct

timber jobs) and less income ($11.7

million in timber-related labor income

per year) generated from timber harvest.

Receipts from timber sales would also

decline, which would reduce payments

to states by about $1.4 million per year.

Jobs associated with road construction

and reconstruction for timber harvest

and other activities would also be less

than at the baseline. Somewhere

between 6 and 32 direct jobs could be

affected by reduced road construction

and reconstruction.

The impact on mineral resources is

expected to be greatest for leasable (such

as oil, gas, coal, and geothermal) and

saleable (such as sand, gravel, stone,

and pumice) minerals, since

development might not be economically

feasible without road access. The agency

also has more management discretion

regarding whether to allow access to

these commodities than locatables

(metallic and nonmetallic minerals on

public domain land). Exploration costs

for locatable minerals may increase

under the restrictions of this rule as

well. The increase in exploration and

development costs may reduce the

number of leases relative to the baseline,

which reduces the number of jobs,

income, and payments to states

associated with these activities. In the

near term the impact is expected to be

minimal, since there has been limited

industry interest in most leasables on

National Forest System lands.

New roads have the potential to

reduce operating costs for other users,

for example, grazing permittees and

collectors of non-timber forest products

by allowing faster and easier access.

These potential cost reductions would

not be realized if road construction is

prohibited. However, it is unknown

whether planned roads would in fact be

useful to these groups, since their

proximity to grazing allotments and

desirable products is unknown.

New roads built for other purposes

also provide additional access for

recreationists, including hunters and

anglers. The agency builds few roads for

recreation purposes, and this pattern is

unlikely to change. However, the costs

imposed on these groups by not

building new roads would be minimal,

since the agency would close most of

the roads built for resource extraction

once the extraction is complete.

Therefore, the number of road miles that

would be available for recreational or

other uses would be small.

Opportunities for some types of

recreation special uses may be limited

in the future. Developed recreation use

and roaded recreation uses in general

are likely to occur at higher densities

than under the baseline, since

expansion into the unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas would not

occur. However, this expansion would

be a small area in any particular year.

The development of new ski areas

would be unlikely.

Other, non-recreation special uses

may be limited in the future as well.

Such special uses include

communication sites, and energy-related

transmission uses (such as ditches and

pipelines, and electric transmission

lines).

Fewer acres of inventoried roadless

areas would likely be treated for forest

health purposes. Most moderate and

high risk forests in inventoried roadless

areas would be given a low priority for

treatment, unless there was an

imminent threat to public safety, private

property, water quality, or threatened

and endangered species. The change in

the number of acres that potentially

would be treated is small relative to the

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30285

total acres at risk, but there could be a

slight increase in the risk from

catastrophic fire or insect and disease

from reduced treatment opportunities.

Agency costs would increase

compared to the baseline for some types

of activities. Fuel treatment and other

forest health treatment costs in the

unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas would increase.

The goods and services that could not

be produced on the unroaded portions

of inventoried roadless areas without

road construction are likely to be

produced either on other parts of

National Forest System lands, or on

other lands. Substitute production could

result in adverse environmental effects

on these other lands.

Potential Costs and Benefits of the

Requirement to Consider Roadless

Characteristics

The procedural provisions in the

proposed rule do not directly

implement or prohibit any grounddisturbing activity. The procedures are

designed to give local decision-makers

direction in design and implementation

of local projects. The exact location and

acreage of each potentially affected area

is unknown. The procedural provisions

would be applied to the 54 million acres

of inventoried roadless areas, as well as

up to 95 million acres of other National

Forest System lands. The procedures

would add about $11 million to

planning costs over the next 5–15 years.

Since individual project proposals

and local roadless characteristics are

highly variable, estimating associated

benefits and costs of implementing

procedures would be speculative. Since

it is reasonable to assume that the

proposed procedural requirements

would reinforce the effects achieved by

the proposed requirements to prohibit

road construction and reconstruction

and that the procedural requirements

would apply to a greater area than

inventoried roadless areas, the

economic effects are likely to be

somewhat greater than the effects

described by resource area.

TABLE 2.—SUMMARY OF COSTS AND BENEFITS OF THE PROHIBITION ON ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE PROPOSED

ROADLESS AREA CONSERVATION RULE COMPARED TO CONTINUATION OF CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Category Assessment method

Potential Benefits:

Air quality maintained at higher level in roadless and unroaded areas ........................................................ Qualitative discussion.

Water quality maintained at higher level in roadless and unroaded areas ................................................... Qualitative discussion.

Larger land base for dispersed recreation activities in remote settings in roadless and unroaded areas ... Qualitative discussion.

Quality of fishing and hunting maintained at higher level for recreation, commercial, and subsistence

users in roadless and unroaded areas.

Qualitative discussion.

Forage quality for livestock grazing and some non-timber forest products maintained at higher level due

to smaller probability of introduction of non-native invasive species.

Qualitative discussion.

Existence and bequest values maintained at higher levels because of increased protection of biological

diversity and threatened and endangered species..

Qualitative discussion.

Agency costs savings from reduced appeals and litigation on roadless management ................................. Qualitative discussion.

Agency cost savings of up to $565,000 per year from reduced road maintenance costs ............................ Agency estimate based on previous expenditures.

Potential Costs:

Fewer timber related jobs: about 250 direct and 480 total jobs .................................................................... Agency estimate using TSPIRS1

data and IMPLAN 2 model multipliers.

Less timber related income per year: $11.7 million direct income and $21 million total income ................. Agency estimate using TSPIRS

data and IMPLAN 2 model multipliers.

Less timber-related payments to states, up to $1.4 million per year ............................................................ Agency estimate using TSPIRS

data and National Forest Fund

receipts data.

Fewer jobs associated with road construction, ranging from 6–36 jobs ....................................................... Agency estimate using previous

expenditures and IMPLAN

model multipliers.

Increased exploration and development costs for leasable minerals (such as oil, gas, coal, geothermal) .. Qualitative discussion.

Increased exploration costs for locatable minerals (metallic or nonmetallic minerals) ................................. Qualitative discussion.

Increased exploration costs for saleable minerals (such as sand, stone, gravel, pumice) ........................... Qualitative discussion.

Increased operating costs for grazing permittees and collectors of non-timber products ............................. Qualitative discussion.

Reduced opportunities for roaded recreation ................................................................................................. Qualitative discussion.

Decline in special-use authorizations (such as communications sites, electric transmission lines, pipelines).Qualitative discussion.

Fewer opportunities for forest health treatments ........................................................................................... Qualitative discussion.

1TSPIRS is the Forest Service’s Timber Sales Program Information Reporting System.

2 IMPLAN (Impact Analysis for Planning) is the input-output model used by the Forest Service.

Summary of the Results of the Initial

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

For any agency that is subject to the

notice and comment requirements of 5

U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601

et seq.) directs that the agency prepare

and make available for public comment

an initial regulatory flexibility analysis.

If the agency determines that the

rulemaking will not have a significant

impact on a substantial number of small

entities, the initial regulatory flexibility

analysis requirement does not apply,

but the agency must make a certification

of no significant impact.

The Forest Service expects that this

roadless area conservation rulemaking

will not have a significant impact on a

substantial number of small entities, as

defined by the Regulatory Flexibility

Act (RFA). Moreover, because the

proposed rule does not directly regulate

small entities, the Forest Service does

not believe that an initial regulatory

30286 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

flexibility analysis is required.

Nevertheless, given the significant

public interest in the rulemaking and

the comment received on this specific

issue during the scoping process, the

agency has prepared an initial

regulatory flexibility analysis. Public

comment is invited on the initial

regulatory flexibility analysis, a

summary of which follows. The full

analysis is available upon request by

calling the telephone number noted in

the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section of this document and on the

world wide web at roadless.fs.fed.us/.

Data for linking the proposed rule to

effects on small businesses is limited.

The agency does not typically collect

information about the size of businesses

that seek permission to operate on

National Forest System lands.

The rulemaking has the potential to

affect a subset of small businesses that

may seek opportunities on National

Forest System lands in the future. The

primary effect of the rule, when

finalized, is the potential to affect the

future supply of outputs or

opportunities for businesses. The effect

of the rulemaking on local governments

is tied to any possible reductions in

commodity outputs in cases where some

portion of federal receipts is returned to

the states for distribution to counties.

Small businesses in the wood

products sector most likely to be

affected are logging and sawmill

operations. Reductions in the harvest of

softwood sawtimber, particularly in the

western United States are most likely to

affect small businesses, since these

sectors are dominated by small

business. With the exception of the

Forest Service Intermountain Region

(Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, and

southern Idaho), reductions in harvest

are estimated to range from less than 1

percent to 2 percent. The reduction in

the Intermountain Region is estimated

to be 8 percent.

Small businesses in the mineral sector

most likely to be affected are businesses

that develop saleable minerals such as

sand and gravel, and leasable minerals

such as oil, gas, and coal. The

prohibition on road construction and

reconstruction could reduce

opportunities in the future to develop

mineral commodities that cannot be

extracted without road access. Small

businesses are more likely to be

involved in the development of saleable

minerals, and less likely to be involved

in development of energy minerals.

The potential effects on small

businesses involved in livestock grazing

and the collection of non-timber forest

products are expected to be negligible.

There will be fewer roads available for

their future use under the proposed

rule, but the number of miles is minor

compared to the entire National Forest

System road system.

Special use authorizations on

National Forest System land could be

affected by the proposed rule, if road

access is required. Most of the special

uses potentially affected are dominated

by large businesses, such as businesses

in communication, electric services, gas

production and distribution, and resort

development. Small businesses with

outfitter and guide permits are expected

to benefit from the proposed rule, since

these businesses are often dependent on

providing services to recreation users

interested in remote recreation activities

that are often found in inventoried

roadless and other unroaded areas.

The proposed rule is also likely to

affect small governments that qualify as

small entities. Many small communities

around National Forest System lands

receive a portion of receipts from

commodity sales on National Forest

System lands. A reduction in

commodity production is likely to

reduce revenues to these entities,

although the estimated reduction is

expected to be small in most regions.

The estimated reduction in payments to

states related to timber receipts would

be about 1 to 2 percent, except in the

Intermountain Region, where the

reduction is estimated to be 8 percent.

The agency is soliciting comment and

information on the potential impacts

that this proposed rule and the

alternatives to this rule (detailed in the

Draft Environmental Impact Statement)

might have on small entities. (Pursuant

to the Regulatory Flexibility Act, these

entities include small businesses, small

organizations, and small governmental

jurisdictions.) The agency welcomes

information on the number and types of

small entities potentially impacted and

the significance of these potential

impacts, specifically information about

potential costs, changes in revenue or

prices, regional or community-level

impacts, and characteristics of the

potentially impacted entities. The

agency also welcomes suggestions from

the public on how alternatives to this

rule may minimize the impacts on small

businesses. For more information on the

agency’s small entity impact analysis,

including a list of specific questions on

small entity impacts to which the

agency is seeking responses from the

public, please see the Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis, available at the

website address listed under ADDRESSES

or by calling the telephone number

listed under the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT sections of the

preamble. The agency will use the

information provided to make a

determination on the regulatory

flexibility analysis needed at the final

rule stage.

Unfunded Mandates Reform

Pursuant to Title II of the Unfunded

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C.

1531–1538), the Department has

assessed the effects of this proposed rule

on state, local, and tribal governments,

and on the private sector. This proposed

rule does not compel the expenditure of

$100 million or more by any state, local,

or tribal government, or anyone in the

private sector. Therefore, a statement

under section 202 of the Act is not

required.

Environmental Impact

The agency has elected to prepare a

draft environmental impact statement in

concert with this proposed rule. This

document may be obtained from various

sources as indicated in the ADDRESSES

section of this document. Reviewers are

encouraged to include comments on the

draft environmental impact statement

along with any comments submitted on

the proposed rule.

No Takings Implications

This proposed rule has been reviewed

for its impact on private property rights

under Executive Order 12630. It has

been determined that this proposed rule

does not pose a risk of taking

Constitutionally-protected private

property; in fact, the proposed rule

honors access to private property

pursuant to statute and to outstanding

or reserved rights.

Civil Justice Reform Act

This proposed rule revision has been

reviewed under Executive Order 12988,

Civil Justice Reform. The proposed

revision: (1) Preempts all state and local

laws and regulations that are found to

be in conflict with or that would impede

its full implementation; (2) does not

retroactively affect existing permits,

contracts, or other instruments

authorizing the occupancy and use of

National Forest System lands, and (3)

does not require administrative

proceedings before parties may file suit

in court challenging these provisions.

Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the

Public

This proposed rule does not contain

any recordkeeping or reporting

requirements or other information

collection requirements as defined in 5

CFR Part 1320 and, therefore, imposes

no paperwork burden on the public.

Accordingly, the review provisions of

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules 30287

(44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) and

implementing regulations at 5 CFR Part

1320 do not apply.

Federalism

The agency has considered this

proposed rule under the requirements of

Executive Order 12612 and has made a

preliminary assessment that the

proposed rule will not have substantial

direct effects on the states, on the

relationship between the national

government and the states, or on the

distribution of power and

responsibilities among the various

levels of government. Therefore, the

agency has determined that no further

assessment on federalism implications

is necessary at this time. In addition, the

agency has reviewed the consultation

requirements under Executive Order

13132, effective November 2, 1999. This

new Order calls for enhanced

consultation with state and local

government officials and emphasizes

increased sensitivity to their concerns.

In the spirit of these new

requirements, Forest Service line

officers in the field were asked to make

contact with tribes to ensure awareness

of the initiative and of the rulemaking

process. Outreach to tribes has been

conducted at the national forest and

grassland level, which is how Forest

Service government-to-government

dialog with tribes is typically

conducted.

Outreach to state and local

governments has taken place both in the

field and Washington offices. Forest

Service officials have contacted state

and local governmental officials and

staffs to explain the notice of intent and

the rulemaking process. The agency has

met with and responded to a variety of

information requests from local officials

and state organizations, such as the

National Governors Association and the

Western Governors Association.

Also, the agency has carefully

considered, in the development of this

proposed rule, the comments received

from states, tribes, and local

governments in response to the Notice

of Intent to Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement published October 19,

1999 (64 FR 56306). Following

publication of this proposed rule, the

agency will meet with state, tribal, and

local government officials to explain

and clarify the proposed rule and the

accompanying environmental impact

statement. Finally, prior to adopting a

final rule, the agency will consider the

extent to which additional consultation

is appropriate under Executive Order

13132.

Conclusion

The Forest Service proposes to

prohibit road construction in

inventoried roadless areas with certain

limited exceptions. In addition, the

agency proposes to require responsible

officials to consider and evaluate

roadless characteristics at the time of

forest plan revision. The Forest Service

invites written comments and will

consider those comments in developing

the final rule that will be published in

the Federal Register and in preparing

the Final Environmental Impact

Statement.

List of Subjects in 36 CFR Part 294

National forests, Navigation (air),

Recreation and recreation areas,

Wilderness areas.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, the Forest Service proposes to

amend Chapter II of Title 36 of the Code

of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 294—SPECIAL AREAS

1. Designate §§ 294.1 and 294.2 as

subpart A and add a subpart heading to

read as follows:

Subpart A—Special Areas

2. Add subpart B to part 294 to read

as follows:

Subpart B—Protection of Roadless Areas

Sec.

294.10 Purpose.

294.11 Definitions.

294.12 Prohibition on road construction

and reconstruction in inventoried

roadless areas.

294.13 Consideration of roadless area

conservation during forest plan revision.

294.14 Scope and applicability.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 472, 551, 1131, 1608,

1613; 23 U.S.C. 201, 205.

Subpart B—Protection of Roadless

Areas

§ 294.10 Purpose.

The purpose of this subpart is to

provide lasting protection in the context

of multiple-use management for

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas within the National

Forest System.

§ 294.11 Definitions.

The following definitions apply to

this subpart:

Inventoried roadless areas.

Undeveloped areas typically exceeding

5,000 acres that met the minimum

criteria for wilderness consideration

under the Wilderness Act and that were

inventoried during the Forest Service’s

Roadless Area Review and Evaluation

(RARE II) process, subsequent

assessments, or forest planning. These

areas are identified in a set of

inventoried roadless area maps,

contained in Forest Service Roadless

Area Conservation, Draft Environmental

Impact Statement, Volume 2, dated May

2000, which are held at the National

headquarters office of the Forest

Service.

Responsible official. The Forest

Service line officer with the authority

and responsibility to make decisions

regarding protection and management of

inventoried roadless areas and other

unroaded areas pursuant to this subpart.

Road. A motor vehicle travelway over

50 inches wide, unless classified and

managed as a trail. A road may be

classified or unclassified.

(1) Classified road. A road within the

National Forest System planned or

managed for motor vehicle access

including state roads, county roads,

private roads, permitted roads, and

Forest Service roads.

(2) Unclassified road. A road not

intended to be part of, and not managed

as part of, the forest transportation

system, such as temporary roads,

unplanned roads, off-road vehicle

tracks, and abandoned travelways.

Road construction. A capital

improvement that results in the addition

of new road miles to the forest

transportation system.

Road maintenance. The ongoing

minor restoration and upkeep of a road

necessary to retain the road’s approved

traffic service level.

Road reconstruction. A capital

improvement that requires the alteration

or expansion of a road and usually

results in realignment, improvement, or

rebuilding as defined as follows:

(1) Realignment. Construction

activities that result in the new location

of an existing road or portions of roads

in order to expand its capacity, change

its original design function, or increase

its traffic service level. The investment

may include decommissioning the

abandoned sections of roadway.

(2) Improvement. Construction

activities that are needed to increase a

road’s traffic service level, expand its

capacity, or change its original design

function.

(3) Rebuilding. Construction activities

that are needed to restore a road to its

approved traffic service level and that

result in increasing its capacity or

changing its original design function.

Unroaded area. Any area, without the

presence of a classified road, of a size

and configuration sufficient to protect

the inherent characteristics associated

with its unroaded condition.

Unroaded portion of an inventoried

roadless area. A portion of an

30288 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 10, 2000 / Proposed Rules

inventoried roadless area in which no

classified road has been constructed

since the area was inventoried.

§ 294.12 Prohibition on road construction

and reconstruction in inventoried roadless

areas.

(a) Roads may not be constructed or

reconstructed in the unroaded portions

of inventoried roadless areas of the

National Forest System, except as

provided in paragraphs (b) through (c)

of this section. This prohibition covers

classified and unclassified roads.

(b) Notwithstanding the prohibition in

paragraph (a) of this section, a road may

be constructed or reconstructed in an

inventoried roadless area if the

responsible official determines that one

of the following circumstances exists:

(1) A road is needed to protect public

health and safety in cases of an

imminent threat of flood, fire, or other

catastrophic event that, without

intervention, would cause the loss of

life or property;

(2) A road is needed to conduct a

response action under the

Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability

Act (CERCLA) or to conduct a natural

resource restoration action under

CERCLA (42 U.S.C. 9601, 9603, 9607,

9620), section 311 of the Clean Water

Act (33 U.S.C. 1251, 1254, 1323, 1324,

1329, 1342, 1344), or the Oil Pollution

Act (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.);

(3) A road is needed pursuant to

reserved or outstanding rights or as

provided for by statute or treaty; or

(4) Road realignment is needed to

prevent irreparable resource damage by

an existing road that is deemed essential

for public or private access,

management, or public health and

safety, and such damage cannot be

corrected by maintenance.

(c) The prohibition in paragraph (a) of

this section does not apply to the

Tongass National Forest, except as

provided for in § 294.13(e).

(d) The responsible official may

maintain classified roads that were

constructed in inventoried roadless

areas prior to the effective date of this

rule.

§ 294.13 Consideration of roadless area

conservation during forest plan revision.

(a) At the time of land and resource

management plan revision, for the areas

listed in paragraph (b) of this section,

the responsible official must evaluate

the quality and importance of the

following characteristics:

(1) Soil, water, and air;

(2) Sources of public drinking water;

(3) Diversity of plant and animal

communities;

(4) Habitat for threatened,

endangered, proposed, candidate, and

sensitive species and for those species

dependent on large, undisturbed areas

of land;

(5) Primitive, semi-primitive nonmotorized, and semi-primitive

motorized classes of dispersed

recreation;

(6) Reference landscapes;

(7) Landscape character and scenic

integrity;

(8) Traditional cultural properties and

sacred sites; and

(9) Other locally identified unique

characteristics.

(b) The evaluation of characteristics

required in paragraph (a) of this section

applies to the following areas:

(1) The unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas; and

(2) Unroaded areas (other than

inventoried roadless areas) that, in the

judgment of the responsible official, are

of a sufficient size, shape, and position

within the landscape to reasonably

achieve the long-term conservation of

the characteristics in paragraph (a) of

this section. Such areas may include

those that provide important corridors

for wildlife movement, or areas that

share a common boundary of

considerable length with an inventoried

roadless area, with a component of the

National Wild and Scenic River System,

or with unroaded areas of 5,000 acres or

more on lands administered by Federal

agencies. In selecting areas, the

responsible official should consider the

distance from, and the scarcity of, other

unroaded areas, particularly for those

areas east of the 100th meridian.

(c) At the time of land and resource

management plan revision, based on the

evaluation required by paragraph (a) of

this section, the responsible official

must determine, in the context of

overall-multiple use objectives, whether

management protections, in addition to

those set forth in § 294.12, should apply

to the unroaded portions of inventoried

roadless areas.

(d) At the time of land and resource

management plan revision, based on the

evaluation required by paragraph (a) of

this section, the responsible official

must determine with respect to

unroaded areas, other than inventoried

roadless areas, in the context of overall

multiple-use objectives, which areas

warrant protection and the level of

protection to be afforded.

(e) As part of the 5-year review of the

April 1999 revised Tongass Land and

Resource Management Plan pursuant to

§ 219.10 (g) of this chapter, the

responsible official must initiate an

evaluation pursuant to paragraph (a) of

this section for the unroaded portions of

inventoried roadless areas in the

Tongass National Forest and must

determine whether the prohibitions and

provisions in § 294.12 (a), (b), and (d)

should be applied to any or all of such

inventoried roadless areas. In making

that determination, the responsible

official must consider the provisions of

section 101 of the Tongass Timber

Reform Act (Public Law 101–626, 104

Stat. 4426).

(f) No provision in this section

authorizes the responsible official to

reconsider or set aside the prohibition

established in § 294.12.

§ 294.14 Scope and applicability.

(a) This subpart does not suspend or

modify any existing permit, contract, or

other legal instrument authorizing the

occupancy and use of National Forest

System land.

(b) This subpart does not compel the

amendment or revision of any land and

resource management plan.

(c) This subpart does not suspend or

modify any decision made prior to

[Effective date of final rule].

(d) If any provision of the regulations

in this subpart or its application to any

person or circumstances is held invalid,

the remainder of the regulations in this

subpart and their application remain in

force.

Dated: April 21, 2000.

Mike Dombeck,

Chief.

[FR Doc. 00–11304 Filed 5–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

36 CFR Part 294

RIN 0596–AB77

Special Areas; Roadless Area

Conservation

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule; public meetings.

SUMMARY: The Forest Service gives

notice of public meetings to be held to

address the proposed Roadless Area

Conservation rule that appears

elsewhere in this separate part of

today’s Federal Register. The agency

will host two separate sets of regional

and local public meetings: Informational

meetings and public comment forums

held later in the public comment period.

In addition to sending written comment

on the proposed rule, the draft

environmental impact statement, and

other accompanying documents to the

address listed in the proposed rule,