Roadless ban faces hard road Feds may offer little resistance to opponents of Clinton ban on activities

Dan Hansen - Staff writer

An Indian tribe, a timber giant, a bunch of snowmobilers and the grandson of Idaho's sheep king are challenging a ban on chain saws and bulldozers in the roadless areas of federal forests.

They're joined by the state of Idaho and two counties in a court appeal that starts this week. The state of Alaska and a conservative group from Libby, Mont., will join the fray later.

The groups are all challenging the roadless initiative adopted during the final days of the Clinton administration. That leaves the Justice Department and Forest Service to defend a policy President George W. Bush campaigned against.

"I would guess that the Justice Department is not going to make a very strong defense," said Jerry Pavia, a Bonners Ferry resident and chairman of the Idaho Conservation League.

Clinton's roadless policy blocks road-building and most logging, grazing, oil and gas exploration, and mining on nearly 60 million acres of national forest, mostly in the West. The Forest Service says the ban includes about 9 million acres in Idaho and 2 million in Washington.

The Forest Service last year conducted 600 hearings and heard from 1.7 million Americans about the plan, more than for any other environmental proposal. Most who commented supported the ban, but many in timber country did not.

Opponents say the ban will gut rural economies and leaves no options for thinning forests to prevent wildfires like those that ravaged Rocky Mountain states last summer.

"No one likes the idea of these forests burning down and that's what's going to happen," said Phil Davis, a rancher and Valley County, Idaho, commissioner.

Conservationists say the affected areas haven't been logged because they're tough to reach and present environmental challenges that can't be overcome. They note that the Forest Service already has an $8 billion backlog of maintenance for its 380,000 miles of roads.

Pavia's group, and seven other environmental organizations, have intervened on behalf of the Forest Service in two Idaho-based appeals that get their first hearing Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge in Boise.

Lodge will hear arguments on whether the ban should be postponed until the cases are settled, a process that could take a year or more. The rules take effect May 12 if the judge doesn't grant a preliminary injunction.

One of those suits was brought by the state of Idaho. The other was brought by the Kootenai Tribe; Boise-Cascade Corp.; Boise and Valley counties; three organizations representing snowmobilers and off-road vehicle riders; and rancher Brad Little.

Little was born into one of Idaho's largest ranching families. His father is a former state legislator and his grandfather was dubbed the "Idaho Sheep King" in a biography.

Little, who coordinated Bush's campaign in Gem County, said he fears the road ban will hamper his ability to graze 1,000 cows and 5,000 sheep in federal forests.

Beyond that, he said, regulations on public lands are hurting loggers and mill workers in Boise County, where he winters, and Valley County, where he spends summers. Boise-Cascade officials blamed the roadless initiative when they announced in February that the company will close mills in both rural counties, eliminating 375 jobs.

A recent University of Idaho study concluded the mill closure will take $43 million a year from the economy in Valley County, home to 4,000 people. About 85 percent of the county is federal land -- including some in existing wilderness areas and some affected by the road ban.

There was no similar study of Boise County.

"All my friends are losing their jobs and are going to be unemployed," Little said. "Those are the people I go to basketball games with and to church with. They're the ones that are affected most by this."

Some conservationists said they are surprised that the Kootenai Tribe is opposing the road ban. The tribe has 95 members living on a 400-acre reservation near Bonners Ferry.

Tribal officials would not discuss the legal appeal. LeRoy Wilder, a Portland attorney who represents the Kootenais on this and other matters, said the tribe is angry it wasn't consulted before the Forest Service launched the road ban.

Like other challengers, the tribe also fears members will not be able to drive to the high country.

"The concern is access for the exercise of treaty rights," like hunting, fishing, gathering berries and conducting religious ceremonies, Wilder said.

The state of Alaska has filed a separate appeal, as has Communities for a Great Northwest, based in Libby, Mont. The Alaska appeal deals primarily with the Tongass National Forest, where roads and logging would be banned from 9.3 million acres.

Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles has complained that Alaskans were "double-crossed" by the Clinton administration, which years earlier had initiated a forest planning process that resulted in a plan for continued development in the Tongass.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, during his confirmation hearing, assured Democratic senators that he would defend the road ban regardless of Bush's position.

"I think if the president wants to change the law, he has to follow the law in order to do so," Ashcroft said.

However, conservationists worry the administration will negotiate a settlement to the federal lawsuits that effectively guts the initiative. By intervening on behalf of the Forest Service, the Idaho Conservation League and other groups win the right to contest any settlement.

Lawyers for Boise-Cascade, the state of Idaho and other challengers of the ban had opposed the groups' intervention, which was granted this month by Lodge.

The road ban originally was to take effect this month. However, Bush in February announced a two month delay, drawing criticism from conservationists.

Environmental groups also were alarmed earlier this month, when regional directors for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service withdrew a "supplemental biological opinion" signed on Clinton's last day in office. That document clarified rules for protecting endangered fish on federal lands east of the Cascades.

"This is the only federal document I know about that said the roadless rule was necessary for salmon protection," said Kristen Boyles, spokeswoman for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Seattle.

Information about the roadless initiative, including maps of areas affected, is available on the Internet at www.roadless.fs.fed.us/

•Dan Hansen can be reached at (509) 459-3938 or by e-mail at danh@spokesman.com.

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2001