II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 877 

To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the 

National Forest System. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2021 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. CARDIN, 

Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, 

Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REED, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas 

within the National Forest System. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Roadless Area Con5 servation Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) there is a compelling need to establish na2 tional protection for inventoried roadless areas of the 

3 National Forest System in order to protect the 

4 unique social and ecological values of those irreplace5 able resources; 

6 (2) roadless areas protect healthy watersheds 

7 and the numerous benefits of healthy watersheds, 

8 which include— 

9 (A) providing the setting for many forms 

10 of outdoor recreation; 

11 (B) ensuring a supply of clean water for 

12 domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses; 

13 (C) providing drinking water to tens of 

14 millions of citizens of the United States; and 

15 (D) helping maintain abundant and 

16 healthy fish and wildlife populations and habi17 tats; 

18 (3) maintaining roadless areas in a relatively 

19 undisturbed condition— 

20 (A) saves downstream communities mil21 lions of dollars in water filtration costs; and 

22 (B) is crucial to preserve the flow of af23 fordable, clean water to a growing population; 

24 (4) the protection of roadless areas can main25 tain biological strongholds and refuges for many imVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Apr 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S877.IS S877

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1 periled species by halting the ongoing fragmentation 

2 of the landscape into smaller and smaller parcels of 

3 land divided by road corridors; 

4 (5) roadless areas conserve native biodiversity 

5 by serving as a bulwark against the spread of non6 native invasive species; 

7 (6) roadless areas provide important back8 country fish and game habitat, creating opportuni9 ties for hunting and commercial and sport fishing; 

10 (7) roadless areas provide unparalleled opportu11 nities for outdoor recreation, including hiking, camp12 ing, picnicking, wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, 

13 cross-country skiing, canoeing, mountain-biking, and 

14 similar activities; 

15 (8) while roadless areas may have many wilder16 ness-like attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the use 

17 of mechanized means of travel is allowed in many 

18 roadless areas; 

19 (9) roadless areas contain many sites sacred to 

20 Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and other groups 

21 that use roadless areas for spiritual and religious 

22 practices and access, including customary and tradi23 tional uses and activities; 

24 (10) from the inception of Federal land man25 agement, the mission of the Forest Service has been 


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1 to manage the National Forest System for multiple 

2 uses, including resource utilization, conservation, 

3 and other uses; 

4 (11) consistent with the multiple-use mission 

5 described in paragraph (10), this Act— 

6 (A) ensures the continued protection of so7 cial and ecological values, while allowing for 

8 many multiple uses of inventoried roadless 

9 areas; and 

10 (B) does not impose any new limitations 

11 on— 

12 (i) inventoried roadless areas; or 

13 (ii) the use of, or access to, National 

14 Forest System, State, or private land out15 side inventoried roadless areas; 

16 (12) enacting a law for the protection of inven17 toried roadless areas— 

18 (A) provides additional reliability to areas 

19 with recreation-based economies that depend on 

20 public land without roads for jobs, revenue, and 

21 consumer spending; and 

22 (B) encourages forest managers to con23 tinue giving priority to conducting fuel reduc24 tion treatments in the areas in which the treat25 ments will have the most impact; 


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1 (13) wildfires are almost twice as likely to occur 

2 in roaded areas as in roadless areas, because 

3 roadless areas are generally located further away 

4 from communities and are harder to access; 

5 (14) the Forest Service has an enormous back6 log of maintenance needs for the existing 371,581- 

7 mile road system of the Forest Service that will cost 

8 $3,200,000,000 to eliminate; and 

9 (15) continued protection of roadless areas will 

10 continue to allow for the development of hydropower 

11 projects. 

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide, 

13 within the context of multiple-use management, lasting 

14 protection for inventoried roadless areas within the Na15 tional Forest System. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREA.—The term 

19 ‘‘inventoried roadless area’’ means any area in which 

20 road construction, road reconstruction, or logging is 

21 subject to regulation under the Roadless Rule. 

22 (2) ROADLESS RULE.—The term ‘‘Roadless 

23 Rule’’ means part 294 of title 36, Code of Federal 

24 Regulations, as adopted on January 12, 2001, and 


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1 modified for Idaho on October 16, 2008, and for 

2 Colorado on July 3, 2012, and December 19, 2016. 

3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

5 Chief of the Forest Service. 

6 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS. 

7 The Secretary shall not allow road construction, road 

8 reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area 

9 where those activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule. 

Æ 


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