Part 1 of this rule could affect about 50 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. The amount of acres affected by part 2 of the rule will be determined in the future through local forest planning. Inventoried roadless areas are 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. RARE II inventories will be used if a forest does not have a more recent roadless inventory which was established based on RARE II information.
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. We have started this process to respond to public desires about the conservation and use of National Forest and Grassland resources. There is strong public sentiment for protecting the benefits of these areas, such as clean water, biological diversity, wildlife habitat, and dispersed recreation. Also, the we do not have the resources to take care of our existing 380,000 mile road system. Many have questioned if we should build new roads into pristine roadless areas if we can take care of the road system that already exists.