Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.279 | Sponsor: Rep. Gallego, Ruben (D-AZ)
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2021

To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the 
                        National Forest System.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Roadless Area Conservation Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) In General.--Congress finds that--
            (1) there is a compelling need to establish national 
        protection for inventoried roadless areas of the National 
        Forest System in order to protect the unique social and 
        ecological values of those irreplaceable resources;
            (2) roadless areas protect healthy watersheds and the 
        numerous benefits of healthy watersheds, which include--
                    (A) providing the setting for many forms of outdoor 
                recreation;
                    (B) ensuring a supply of clean water for domestic, 
                agricultural, and industrial uses;
                    (C) providing drinking water to tens of millions of 
                citizens of the United States; and
                    (D) helping maintain abundant and healthy fish and 
                wildlife populations and habitats;
            (3) maintaining roadless areas in a relatively undisturbed 
        condition--
                    (A) saves downstream communities millions of 
                dollars in water filtration costs; and
                    (B) is crucial to preserve the flow of affordable, 
                clean water to a growing population;
            (4) the protection of roadless areas can maintain 
        biological strongholds and refuges for many imperiled species 
        by halting the ongoing fragmentation of the landscape into 
        smaller and smaller parcels of land divided by road corridors;
            (5) roadless areas conserve native biodiversity by serving 
        as a bulwark against the spread of nonnative invasive species;
            (6) roadless areas provide important backcountry fish and 
        game habitat, creating opportunities for hunting and commercial 
        and sport fishing;
            (7) roadless areas provide unparalleled opportunities for 
        outdoor recreation, including hiking, camping, picnicking, 
        wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing, 
        canoeing, mountain biking, and similar activities;
            (8) while roadless areas may have many wilderness-like 
        attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the use of mechanized 
        means of travel is allowed in many roadless areas;
            (9) roadless areas contain many sites sacred to Native 
        Americans, Alaska Natives, and other groups that use roadless 
        areas for spiritual and religious practices and access, 
        including customary and traditional uses and activities;
            (10) from the inception of Federal land management, the 
        mission of the Forest Service has been to manage the National 
        Forest System for multiple uses, including resource 
        utilization, conservation, and other uses;
            (11) consistent with the multiple-use mission described in 
        paragraph (10), this Act--
                    (A) ensures the continued protection of social and 
                ecological values, while allowing for many multiple 
                uses of inventoried roadless areas; and
                    (B) does not impose any new limitations on--
                            (i) inventoried roadless areas; or
                            (ii) the use of, or access to, National 
                        Forest System, State, or private land outside 
                        inventoried roadless areas;
            (12) enacting a law for the protection of inventoried 
        roadless areas--
                    (A) provides additional reliability to areas with 
                recreation-based economies that depend on public land 
                without roads for jobs, revenue, and consumer spending; 
                and
                    (B) encourages forest managers to continue giving 
                priority to conducting fuel reduction treatments in the 
                areas in which the treatments will have the most 
                impact;
            (13) wildfires are almost twice as likely to occur in 
        roaded areas as in roadless areas, because roadless areas are 
        generally located further away from communities and are harder 
        to access;
            (14) the Forest Service has an enormous backlog of 
        maintenance needs for the existing 371,581-mile road system of 
        the Forest Service that will cost $3,200,000,000 to eliminate; 
        and
            (15) continued protection of roadless areas will continue 
        to allow for the development of hydropower projects.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide, within the 
context of multiple-use management, lasting protection for inventoried 
roadless areas within the National Forest System.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Inventoried roadless area.--The term ``inventoried 
        roadless area'' means any area in which road construction, road 
        reconstruction, or logging is subject to regulation under the 
        Roadless Rule.
            (2) Roadless rule.--The term ``Roadless Rule'' means part 
        294 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, as adopted on 
        January 12, 2001, and modified for Idaho on October 16, 2008, 
        and for Colorado on July 3, 2012, and December 19, 2016.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.

SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS.

    The Secretary shall not allow road construction, road 
reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area where those 
activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule.
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