Utah Public Lands Office holds public meeting on roadless rule petition
On Nov. 19, the governor’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office held a public meeting at the Logan Library to discuss a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a state-specific roadless rule.
The roadless rule, nationally implemented by the Forest Service in 2001, restricts roads and tree-cutting in designated areas called Inventoried Roadless Areas, or IRAs. The purpose of the regulation is to preserve the natural value of these IRAs by limiting construction and timber harvesting. Currently, 49 percent of Utah’s national forests are protected by the roadless rule.
As public policy officials explained at the meeting, the state of Utah is in the process of creating and submitting a petition for Utah to have its own state-specific roadless rule to give increased flexibility to forest managers. The proposal, which is partly based on the petition Idaho had submitted in 2006 and was granted in 2008, would give “moderate flexibility” to forest restoration areas and “high flexibility” in forest stewardship areas, and request re-inventory and boundary adjustments.
Redge Johnson, an official for the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, said the state hopes modified regulations will make it easier to prevent “catastrophic wildfires” by allowing forest managers to build roads to clear underbrush.
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about changes to the roadless rule. Desiree Wickwar, a master’s student in biology at Utah State University, said she believes the harmful implications of loosened regulations will outweigh the potential benefits.
“I came because one of the biggest reasons I love living here is because of the access to lands we have, but not necessarily really developed areas. I love that the Wasatch Front is really untouched,” Wickwar said.
Wickwar said paving roads requires a lot of logging, which could lead to problems during forest fires.
“I think in a lot of ways this legislation is kind of underhanded and I think we can do fire management in a much more sustainable way,” she said.
Citizens at the meeting expressed concern for a lack of communication between the state and the people concerning the petition.
Johnson said while counties have been responsible for gathering public input, some may have made it more of a priority than others. Of the 29 counties open for suggestions, the state has only received feedback from 20. Johnson said the state has not heard back from Cache County.
“This was a request put out to counties with no funding, a request we made a little unfairly,” he said.
The deadline for feedback from the counties was originally toward the beginning of November. However, due to lack of response from some counties, the deadline is being pushed back to allow for more public input. The state aims to finish and submit the petition early next year.
If the petition is accepted, the coordinating office has stated that there will be opportunities for the public to submit feedback during the environmental impact stage of the process. There is no formal comment process for the petition process, but the committee is reviewing questions and comments submitted at ourforests.utah.gov. Citizens interested in getting involved may also sign up to receive updates on the petition from the office’s website.