To provide that the final rule titled "Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation" and issued on January 12, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 3244) shall have no force or effect and require the Secretary of Agriculture to construct certain roads on National Forest System lands, and for other purposes.

This bill would cancel the 2001 Department of Agriculture rule known as the Roadless Area Conservation rule, which limits road building in certain national forest areas. It would also bar the Secretary of Agriculture from proposing, carrying out, or enforcing any rule substantially similar to it. The bill would require the Forest Service to build permanent and temporary roads on National Forest System lands that the Secretary decides are needed for restoration work, for reducing wildfire fuels near at-risk communities, the wildland-urban interface, or municipal watersheds, for replacing or closing roads that harm forest, rangeland, or watershed health, and for carrying out an 1897 forest management law. Road construction would remain subject to existing environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Harriet M. Hageman Republican sponsor
• 4 cosponsors