Environmentalists are celebrating the Monday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand the federal “roadless rule” that leaves protections in place for 45 million acres of national forest lands, including those in Utah.
The forest management rule limits road building and timber harvesting on undeveloped public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
The state of Wyoming and the Colorado Mining Association brought a challenge to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, asserting it unfairly jeopardized multiple industries and hampered economic development.
Legal challenges also rested on the premise that by declaring so much land essentially off-limits to development, the federal agency was creating “wilderness” on its own, usurping the power vested in Congress through the 1964 Wilderness Act. Read more….