1.This Act may be cited as the
Roadless Area Conservation Act of
2006
.
2.
(a)Congress finds that—
(1)there is a
compelling need to establish national protection for inventoried roadless areas
of the National Forest System in order to protect the unique social and
ecological values of those irreplaceable resources;
(2)roadless areas
protect healthy watersheds and their numerous benefits including—
(A)protecting
downstream communities from floods and tempering the effects of drought;
(B)ensuring a supply
of clean water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses;
(C)helping maintain
abundant and healthy fish and wildlife populations and habitats;
(D)providing the
setting for many forms of outdoor recreation; and
(E)providing
drinking water to millions of citizens from the more than 354 municipal
watersheds found on roadless areas;
(3)maintaining
roadless areas in a relatively undisturbed condition—
(A)saves downstream
communities millions of dollars in water filtration costs; and
(B)is crucial to
preserve the flow of affordable, clean water to a growing population;
(4)the protection of
roadless areas can maintain biological strongholds and refuges for many
imperiled species by halting the ongoing fragmentation of the landscape into
smaller and smaller parcels of land divided by road corridors;
(5)roadless areas
conserve native biodiversity by serving as a bulwark against the spread of
nonnative invasive species;
(6)roadless areas
provide unparalleled opportunities for hiking, camping, picnicking, wildlife
viewing, hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing, canoeing, mountain-biking, and
similar activities;
(7)while roadless
areas may have many wilderness-like attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the
use of mechanized means of travel is allowed in many roadless areas;
(8)roadless areas
contain many sites sacred to Native Americans and other groups that use
roadless areas for spiritual and religious retreats;
(9)from the
inception of Federal land management, it has been the mission of the Forest
Service and other agencies to manage the National Forest System for the dual
purposes of resource extraction and conservation;
(10)consistent with
that dual mission, this Act—
(A)protects social
and ecological values, while allowing for many multiple uses of inventoried
roadless areas; and
(B)does not impose
any limitations on the use of, or access to Nation Forest System, State, or
private land outside inventoried roadless areas;
(11)establishing a
consistent national policy for the protection of inventoried roadless
areas—
(A)ensures that the
considerable long-term ecological and economic benefits of protecting roadless
areas for future generations are properly considered;
(B)diminishes the
likelihood of controversy at the project level; and
(C)enables the Chief
of the Forest Service to focus on the economic and environmental benefits of
reducing hazardous fuel buildups in portions of the landscape that already have
roads;
(12)the National
Fire Plan indicates that fires are almost twice as likely to occur in roaded
areas as in roadless areas, because roadless areas are generally located
further away from communities and are harder to access;
(13)the report
entitled Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted
Ecosystems—A Cohesive Strategy
(65 Fed. Reg. 67480) advocates a higher
priority for fuel reduction on land that is near communities and readily
accessible municipal watersheds;
(14)the Forest
Service has an enormous backlog of maintenance needs for the existing 386,000
mile road system of the Forest Service that will cost millions of dollars to
eliminate;
(15)no State or
private land owner would continue to build new roads in the face of such an
enormous backlog;
(16)failure to
maintain forest roads—
(A)limits public
access; and
(B)causes
degradation of water quality and wildlife and fish habitat; and
(17)protection of
roadless areas—
(A)will impact less
than 0.5 percent of the national timber supply; and
(B)will have a
negligible impact on oil and gas production because—
(i)the
entire National Forest System provides only approximately 0.4 percent of the
quantity of oil and gas that is produced in the United States; and
(ii)roadless areas
provide only a fraction of the quantity of oil and gas that is produced in the
National Forest System.
(b)The
purpose of this Act is to provide, within the context of multiple-use
management, lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the
National Forest System.
3.In this Act:
(1)
(A)The term classified road means a road wholly
or partially within, or adjacent to, National Forest System land that is
determined to be needed for long-term motor vehicle access.
(B)The
term classified road includes a State road, county road,
privately-owned road, National Forest System road, and any other road
authorized by the Forest Service.
(2)Inventoried
roadless areaThe term inventoried roadless area
means 1 of the areas identified in the set of inventoried roadless area maps
contained in the document entitled Forest Service Roadless Areas
Conservation, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 2
, dated
November 2000.
(3)The term responsible official means a
Forest Service line officer or employee with the authority and responsibility
to make decisions regarding the protection and management of inventoried
roadless areas under this Act.
(4)The
term road means a motor vehicle travelway over 50 inches wide,
unless designated and managed as a trail.
(5)The term road construction means
activity that results in the addition of classified road or temporary road
miles.
(6)The term road improvement means activity
that results in—
(A)an increase of
the traffic service level of an existing road;
(B)an expansion of
the capacity of the road; or
(C)a change in the
original design function of the road.
(7)Roadless area
characteristicsThe term roadless area
characteristics means resources or features that are often present in
and characterize inventoried roadless areas, including—
(A)high quality or
undisturbed soil, water, and air;
(B)sources of public
drinking water;
(C)diversity of
plant and animal communities;
(D)habitat
for—
(i)threatened,
endangered, candidate, or sensitive species, and species proposed for listing,
under the Endangered Species Act of
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and
(ii)species
dependent on large, undisturbed areas of land;
(E)primitive,
semiprimitive nonmotorized, and semiprimitive motorized classes of dispersed
recreation;
(F)reference
landscapes;
(G)natural appearing
landscapes with high scenic quality;
(H)traditional
cultural properties and sacred sites; and
(I)other locally
identified unique characteristics.
(8)The term road maintenance means ongoing
upkeep of a road necessary to retain or restore the road in accordance with
approved road management objectives.
(9)The term road realignment means an
activity that results in—
(A)a new location of
all or part of an existing road; and
(B)treatment of the
old roadway.
(10)The term road reconstruction means an
activity that results in improvement or realignment of an existing classified
road.
(11)The term temporary road means a road that
is—
(A)authorized by
contract, permit, lease, other written authorization, or emergency operation;
and
(B)not intended to
be part of the forest transportation system and not necessary for long-term
resource management.
(12)The term unclassified road means a road on
National Forest System land that is not managed as part of the forest
transportation system, including—
(A)an unplanned
road, abandoned travelway, or off-road vehicle track that has not been
designated and managed as a trail; and
(B)a road that was
once under permit or other authorization and was not decommissioned on the
termination of the authorization.
4.Prohibition on
road construction and road reconstruction in inventoried roadless
areas
(a)Except
as provided in subsection (b), road construction and road reconstruction may
not take place in an inventoried roadless area of the National Forest
System.
(b)Road
construction and road reconstruction may take place, including through the use
of appropriated funds, in an inventoried roadless area of the National Forest
System if the responsible official determines that—
(1)a road is needed
to protect public health and safety in a case of an imminent threat of flood,
fire, or other catastrophic event that, without intervention, would cause the
loss of life or property;
(2)a road is needed
to conduct—
(A)a response action
under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.);
or
(B)a natural
resource restoration action under—
(i)that Act;
(ii)section 311 of
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1321); or
(iii)the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.);
(3)a road is needed
pursuant to a reserved or outstanding right, or as provided for by law or
treaty;
(4)a road
realignment is needed—
(A)to prevent
irreparable resource damage that arises from the design, location, use, or
deterioration of a classified road that cannot be mitigated by road
maintenance; and
(B)to provide for
essential public or private access, natural resource management, or public
health or safety;
(5)road
reconstruction is needed to implement a road safety improvement project on a
classified road determined to be hazardous on the basis of accident experience
or accident potential with respect to the road;
(6)(A)a Federal-aid highway
project authorized under chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is—
(i)in the public interest; or
(ii)consistent with the purposes for
which the land was reserved or acquired; and
(B)no other reasonable and prudent
alternative to the project exists; or
(7)(A)a road is needed in
conjunction with—
(i)the continuation, extension, or
renewal of a mineral lease on land that is under lease by the Secretary of the
Interior as of January 12, 2001; or
(ii)the issuance of a new lease issued
immediately on the date of expiration of an existing lease described in clause
(i);
(B)road construction or road
reconstruction under this paragraph will be conducted in a manner that—
(i)minimizes the effects on surface
resources;
(ii)prevents unnecessary or
unreasonable surface disturbance; and
(iii)complies with all applicable laws
(including regulations), lease requirements, and land and resource management
plan directives; and
(C)a road constructed or reconstructed
under this paragraph will be removed on the earlier of—
(i)the date on which the road is no
longer needed for the purposes of the lease; or
(ii)the date of termination or
expiration of the lease.
(c)A classified road in an inventoried roadless area may
be maintained.
5.Prohibition on
timber cutting, sale, or removal in inventoried roadless areas
(a)Except
as provided in subsection (b), timber may not be cut, sold, or removed in an
inventoried roadless area of the National Forest System.
(b)Timber
may be cut, sold, or removed in an inventoried roadless area if the responsible
official determines that the cutting, sale, or removal of the timber is
expected to be infrequent and—
(1)the cutting,
sale, or removal of generally small diameter timber—
(A)will improve or
maintain 1 or more roadless area characteristics; and
(B)is needed—
(i)to
improve habitat for threatened, endangered, candidate, or sensitive species,
and species proposed for listing, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.); or
(ii)to
maintain or restore the characteristics of ecosystem composition and structure,
such as to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects, within the
range of variability that would be expected to occur under a natural
disturbance regime of the current climatic period;
(2)the cutting,
sale, or removal of timber is incidental to the implementation of a management
activity not otherwise prohibited by this Act;
(3)the cutting,
sale, or removal of timber is needed and appropriate for personal or
administrative use, in accordance with part 223 of title 36, Code of Federal
Regulations; or
(4)roadless
characteristics have been substantially altered in a portion of an inventoried
roadless area as a result of the construction of a classified road and
subsequent timber harvest, if—
(A)the road
construction and subsequent timber harvest occurred after the area was
designated an inventoried roadless area and before January 12, 2001; and
(B)timber is cut,
sold, or removed only in the substantially altered portion of the inventoried
roadless area.
6.
(a)This
Act does not—
(1)revoke, suspend,
or modify any permit, contract, or other legal instrument authorizing the
occupancy and use of National Forest System land issued or entered into before
January 12, 2001;
(2)compel the
amendment or revision of any land and resource management plan;
(3)revoke, suspend,
or modify any decision concerning any project or activity made before January
12, 2001; or
(4)apply to road
construction, reconstruction, or the cutting, sale, or removal of timber in an
inventoried roadless area of the Tongass National Forest if a notice of
availability of a draft environmental impact statement for such activity has
been published in the Federal Register before January 12, 2001.
(b)The prohibitions and restrictions established in this
Act are not subject to reconsideration, revision, or rescission in any
subsequent project decision or amendment or revision to any land and resource
management plan carried out in accordance with section 6 of the
Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604).