This decision interlaces with the forest planning regulations that have undergone public review but have not been issued in final form. These rules should be placed on hold until the final planning regulations are in place and ready to implement. Many of the roadless areas are primed for catastrophic fires. One of the best tools to reduce those hazards is carefully designed timber harvest. By eliminating all possibility of roads, even temporary ones, this tool is effectively lost to managers.
Helicopter logging sounds good, but isn t economically feasible in most situations.
Modern logging equipment can reach the most remote areas with a minimum of impact on the land and few roads. A minimal road system provides access for management, facilitating actions to assure healthy forests, such as well managed prescribed fire. Under current forest conditions, following years of fire suppression, many of our unmanaged wildlands are doomed to experience catastrophic fires, such as the Los Alamos fiasco. These fires can spread into surrounding managed forests, private property and communities. This rule making and the DEIS fail to adequately address this important issue.