PUBLIC LANDS -- In its third newsletter in a series addressing comments received from the public about the Colville National Forest planning effort, the revision team provides background and clarifications regarding the Roadless Rule, Inventoried Roadless Areas and how these are considered in forest plan revision.

What is the Roadless Rule?

The term “inventoried roadless area” (IRA) first came about in the 1970s during the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE I and RARE II) efforts by the Forest Service to inventory and review all roadless areas greater than 5,000 acres in the National Forest System.  The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RACR) issued by presidential directive established national management direction for all IRAs identified in the 2001 Roadless Rule. For the Colville National Forest, the IRAs that were mapped and included as part of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule are identical to the Appendix C Inventoried Roadless Area maps that are in the Colville National Forest’s 1988 Land and Resource Management Plan.  The Roadless Rule prohibits new road construction and reconstruction in IRAs on National Forest System lands, but there are some limited exceptions.

To learn more about the exceptions, see the RACR information page.

The September Newsletter on the forest plan revision includes answers to Frequently Asked Questions about inventoried roadless areas.