A final environmental impact statement and final rule in fall of 2000. The rule will not designate or attempt to identify any additional areas as suitable for wilderness. Only Congress can designate new wilderness areas. A. Inventoried roadless areas are defined as areas of National Forest System land currently inventoried for planning purposes as roadless areas. This inventory is based on individual forest plans, forest plan revisions in progress where the Agency has established an inventory, or other assessments that are completed and adopted by the Agency.
Unroaded areas are other areas without classified or authorized roads.
Their size must be sufficient enough and in a manageable enough configuration to reflect the inherent values associated with roadless areas. The Notice of Intent initiated a 60-day scoping period where comments will be received. This will provide the Forest Service an opportunity to better understand the nature and scope of issues that should be addressed in the draft EIS, and to identify the significant social and environmental issues related to the proposed rulemaking. As a demonstration of the seriousness with which we take public opinion on this issue, we will hold public meetings on every National Forest and Grassland. In addition, ten regional and national level meetings are being held.