Opinion ID: 874087
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The County Has Authority to Validate Anderson Creek Road Even Though It Intrudes into a National Forest

Text: Sopatyk next argues that the Board lacks the authority to validate ACR because in some places it drifts onto land owned by the U.S. Forest Service. As described above, however, R.S. 2477 expressly permitted states to establish rights-of-way on federal land so long as the property is in the public domain. Galli, 146 Idaho at 159, 191 P.3d at 237. ACR became a public road by legislative declaration. It was not until 1906 that President Theodore Roosevelt created the Lemhi Forest Reserve, withdrawing the land around Gibbonsville from the public domain. Proclamation No. 672, 34 Stat. 3248, 3248-49 (Nov. 5, 1906). [10] ACR was therefore a public road before the underlying land became ineligible for such development. Further, the Board did not create new public rights when it validated ACR in 2005, as validation proceedings merely confirm preexisting public rights in state roads. Galvin v. Canyon Highway Dist. No. 4, 134 Idaho 576, 579, 6 P.3d 826, 829 (2000) (citing I.C. § 40-203A). It was therefore within the County's legal authority to validate ACR even if it does invade National Forest land.