The 2001 Forest Service Road less Area Conservation Rule (Road less Rule) prohibits road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on approximately one-third of National Forest System lands. In 2011, the Tenth Circuit upheld the Roadless Rule in Wyoming v. USDA after a decade of litigation. Subsequently, in October 2012, the Supreme Court refused to take up challenges to the Tenth Circuit's ruling. Given the Forest Service's new focus on managing for climate change and the importance of Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) protected by the Roadless Rule, this Note examines whether management for climate change adaptation and mitigation is feasible, necessary, and defensible in IRAs. As background, Parts I and II describe the history and terms of the Roadless Rule and the projected effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. This Note explains the benefits of purely passive management of IRAs in light of climate change effects and discusses arguments against active management in IRAs, but because the Rule explicitly allows some level of active management in IRAs, Part III summarizes the relevant scientific literature on climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies that may be extended to IRAs. Part IV examines the Rule's language, the case law, and the Forest Service's statutory framework to analyze the extent to which the Agency may implement active management in IRAs, including strategies that do not adhere to historical conditions. This Note concludes that: 1) if the Agency seeks to actively manage IRAs, it needs a comprehensive set of criteria for prioritizing roadless areas for climate change mitigation and adaptation treatments, and 2) the Agency may benefit from modifying the Rule's language if it deems that management outside of the historical range of variability is necessary.
Long, E
Wyoming v. USDA: A Look Down the Road at Management of Inventoried Roadless Areas for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
Ecology Law Quarterly