Roadless Rules is a fast-paced and insightful look at one of the most important, wide-ranging, and controversial efforts to protect public forests ever undertaken in the United States.
In January 2000, President Clinton submitted to the Federal Register the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, prohibiting road construction and timber harvesting in designated roadless areas. Set to take effect sixty days after Clinton left office, the rule was immediately challenged by nine lawsuits from states, counties, off-road-vehicle users, and timber companies. The Bush administration refused to defend the rule and eventually sought to replace it with a rule that invited governors to suggest management policies for forests in their states. That rule was attacked by four states and twenty environmental groups and declared illegal.
Roadless Rules offers a fascinating overview of the creation of the Clinton roadless rule and the Bush administration's subsequent replacement rule, the controversy generated, the response of the environmental community, and the legal battles that continue to rage more than seven years later. It explores the value of roadless areas and why the Clinton rule was so important to environmentalists, describes the stakeholder groups involved, and takes readers into courtrooms across the country to hear critical arguments.
Author Tom Turner considers the lessons learned from the controversy, arguing that the episode represents an excellent example of how the system can work when all elements of the environmental movement work together'local groups and individuals determined to save favorite places, national organizations that represent local interests but also concern themselves with national policies, members of the executive branch who try to serve the public interest but need support from outside, and national organizations that use the legal system to support progress achieved through legislation or executive action.
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Showdown in Cheyenne Chapter 3. The Road to Roadlessness Chapter 4. Why a Roadless Rule? Chapter 5. The Untold Story of the Pew Charitable Trusts Chapter 6. The Rule Goes Final, the Lawsuits Fly Chapter 7. The Economic and Spiritual Value of Roadless Areas Chapter 8. Shootouts in Idaho and Wyoming Chapter 9. The Biological Value of Roadless Areas Chapter 10. Skullduggery in Alaska Chapter 11. Hunters and Anglers Get Riled Up Chapter 12. A New Rule Is Proposed Chapter 13. Historical Digression Chapter 14. The New Rule Is Challenged Chapter 15. The Petition Polka I Chapter 16. The Bush Rule Is Blocked Chapter 17. The Petition Polka II Chapter 18. The Game Is Up
Appendix 1: Roadless Area Acreage by State Appendix 2: Timeline of the Roadless Rule Appendix 3: Case Citations and Statutes Appendix 4: Glossary Bibliography Index
"There's no one better than Tom Turner to tell this epic tale, for he was one of the people who made it come out mostly right. It's an important chapter of American environmental history m and of our democratic history too, because for one the voice of millions was not muffled by special pleading from the powerful."
