Obama administration extends moratorium on road-building in remote national forests

The Obama administration has extended for another year a rule that blocks most logging and mining in millions of acres of remote sections of national forests.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he wants to preserve the so-called roadless rule while officials wait for federal courts to resolve legal issues surrounding the decade-old moratorium that President Bill Clinton put in place in 2001.

The rule blocks most commercial logging, mining and other development on about 58 million acres of national forests. A subsequent Bush administration rule cleared the way for more commercial activity. Vilsack imposed a new moratorium in 2009.

The rule does not apply in Idaho, which developed its own roadless rule. Officials in Colorado have submitted a separate plan that has yet to be approved by federal officials.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/obama-administration-extends-moratorium-on-road-building-in-remote-national-forests/2011/05/31/AGd0IhFH_story.html