[Title 36 CFR B]
[Code of Federal Regulations (annual edition) - July 1, 2002 Edition]
[Title 36 - PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY]
[Chapter II - FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE]
[Part 294 - SPECIAL AREAS]
[Subpart B - Protection of Inventoried Roadless Areas]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


36PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY22002-07-012002-07-01falseBSubpart BPARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTYFOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURESPECIAL AREAS
           Subpart B--Protection of Inventoried Roadless Areas

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 472, 529, 551, 1608, 1613; 23 U.S.C. 201, 205.

    Source: 66 FR 3272, Jan. 12, 2001, unless otherwise noted.



Sec. 294.10  Purpose.

    The purpose of this subpart is to provide, within the context of 
multiple-use management, lasting protection for inventoried roadless 
areas within the National Forest System.



Sec. 294.11  Definitions.

    The following terms and definitions apply to this subpart:
    Inventoried roadless areas. Areas identified in a set of inventoried 
roadless area maps, contained in Forest Service Roadless Area 
Conservation, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 2, dated 
November 2000, which are held at the National headquarters office of the 
Forest Service, or any subsequent update or revision of those maps.
    Responsible official. The Forest Service line officer with the 
authority and responsibility to make decisions regarding protection and 
management of inventoried roadless areas pursuant to this subpart.
    Road. A motor vehicle travelway over 50 inches wide, unless 
designated and managed as a trail. A road may be classified, 
unclassified, or temporary.
    (1) Classified road. A road wholly or partially within or adjacent 
to National Forest System lands that is determined to be needed for 
long-term motor vehicle access, including State roads, county roads, 
privately owned roads, National Forest System roads,

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and other roads authorized by the Forest Service.
    (2) Unclassified road. A road on National Forest System lands that 
is not managed as part of the forest transportation system, such as 
unplanned roads, abandoned travelways, and off-road vehicle tracks that 
have not been designated and managed as a trail; and those roads that 
were once under permit or other authorization and were not 
decommissioned upon the termination of the authorization.
    (3) Temporary road. A road authorized by contract, permit, lease, 
other written authorization, or emergency operation, not intended to be 
part of the forest transportation system and not necessary for long-term 
resource management.
    Road construction. Activity that results in the addition of forest 
classified or temporary road miles.
    Road maintenance. The ongoing upkeep of a road necessary to retain 
or restore the road to the approved road management objective.
    Road reconstruction. Activity that results in improvement or 
realignment of an existing classified road defined as follows:
    (1) Road improvement. Activity that results in an increase of an 
existing road's traffic service level, expansion of its capacity, or a 
change in its original design function.
    (2) Road realignment. Activity that results in a new location of an 
existing road or portions of an existing road, and treatment of the old 
roadway.
    Roadless area characteristics. Resources or features that are often 
present in and characterize inventoried roadless areas, including:
    (1) High quality or undisturbed soil, water, and air;
    (2) Sources of public drinking water;
    (3) Diversity of plant and animal communities;
    (4) Habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, candidate, and 
sensitive species and for those species dependent on large, undisturbed 
areas of land;
    (5) Primitive, semi-primitive non-motorized and semi-primitive 
motorized classes of dispersed recreation;
    (6) Reference landscapes;
    (7) Natural appearing landscapes with high scenic quality;
    (8) Traditional cultural properties and sacred sites; and
    (9) Other locally identified unique characteristics.



Sec. 294.12  Prohibition on road construction and road reconstruction in inventoried roadless areas.

    (a) A road may not be constructed or reconstructed in inventoried 
roadless areas of the National Forest System, except as provided in 
paragraph (b) of this section.
    (b) Notwithstanding the prohibition in paragraph (a) of this 
section, a road may be constructed or reconstructed in an inventoried 
roadless area if the Responsible Official determines that one of the 
following circumstances exists:
    (1) A road is needed to protect public health and safety in cases 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 response action under the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
(CERCLA) or to conduct a natural resource restoration action under 
CERCLA, Section 311 of the Clean Water Act, or the Oil Pollution Act;
    (3) A road is needed pursuant to reserved or outstanding rights, or 
as provided for by statute or treaty;
    (4) Road realignment is needed to prevent irreparable resource 
damage that arises from the design, location, use, or deterioration of a 
classified road and that cannot be mitigated by road maintenance. Road 
realignment may occur under this paragraph only if the road is deemed 
essential for public or private access, natural resource management, or 
public health and 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 on that road;
    (6) The Secretary of Agriculture determines that a Federal Aid 
Highway project, authorized pursuant to Title 23 of the United States 
Code, is in the

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public interest or is consistent with the purposes for which the land 
was reserved or acquired and no other reasonable and prudent alternative 
exists; or
    (7) A road is needed in conjunction with the continuation, 
extension, or renewal of a mineral lease on lands that are under lease 
by the Secretary of the Interior as of January 12, 2001 or for a new 
lease issued immediately upon expiration of an existing lease. Such road 
construction or reconstruction must be conducted in a manner that 
minimizes effects on surface resources, prevents unnecessary or 
unreasonable surface disturbance, and complies with all applicable lease 
requirements, land and resource management plan direction, regulations, 
and laws. Roads constructed or reconstructed pursuant to this paragraph 
must be obliterated when no longer needed for the purposes of the lease 
or upon termination or expiration of the lease, whichever is sooner.
    (c) Maintenance of classified roads is permissible in inventoried 
roadless areas.



Sec. 294.13  Prohibition on timber cutting, sale, or removal in inventoried roadless areas.

    (a) Timber may not be cut, sold, or removed in inventoried roadless 
areas of the National Forest System, except as provided in paragraph (b) 
of this section.
    (b) Notwithstanding the prohibition in paragraph (a) of this 
section, timber may be cut, sold, or removed in inventoried roadless 
areas if the Responsible Official determines that one of the following 
circumstances exists. The cutting, sale, or removal of timber in these 
areas is expected to be infrequent.
    (1) The cutting, sale, or removal of generally small diameter timber 
is needed for one of the following purposes and will maintain or improve 
one or more of the roadless area characteristics as defined in 
Sec. 294.11.
    (i) To improve threatened, endangered, proposed, or sensitive 
species habitat; 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 natural disturbance regimes 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 
subpart;
    (3) The cutting, sale, or removal of timber is needed and 
appropriate for personal or administrative use, as provided for in 36 
CFR part 223; or
    (4) Roadless characteristics have been substantially altered in a 
portion of an inventoried roadless area due to the construction of a 
classified road and subsequent timber harvest. Both the road 
construction and subsequent timber harvest must have occurred after the 
area was designated an inventoried roadless area and prior to January 
12, 2001. Timber may be cut, sold, or removed only in the substantially 
altered portion of the inventoried roadless area.



Sec. 294.14  Scope and applicability.

    (a) This subpart does not revoke, suspend, or modify any permit, 
contract, or other legal instrument authorizing the occupancy and use of 
National Forest System land issued prior to January 12, 2001.
    (b) This subpart does not compel the amendment or revision of any 
land and resource management plan.
    (c) This subpart does not revoke, suspend, or modify any project or 
activity decision made prior to January 12, 2001.
    (d) This subpart does not apply to road construction, 
reconstruction, or the cutting, sale, or removal of timber in 
inventoried roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest if a notice of 
availability of a draft environmental impact statement for such 
activities has been published in the Federal Register prior to January 
12, 2001.
    (e) The prohibitions and restrictions established in this subpart 
are not subject to reconsideration, revision, or rescission in 
subsequent project decisions or land and resource management plan 
amendments or revisions undertaken pursuant to 36 CFR part 219.
    (f) If any provision of the rules in this subpart or its application 
to any person or to certain circumstances is

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held invalid, the remainder of the regulations in this subpart and their 
application remain in force.