November 15, 2004 (Charleston, WV) - On the final day of the public comment period on the Bush administration’s proposal to repeal the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule, two new reports show how a smart roads policy will save taxpayers’ dollars and provide better protection for the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. The Monongahela National Forest already contains 6,729 miles of roads, almost three times the distance from Charleston to Los Angeles (a distance of 2,410 miles), and the Forest Service cannot afford its share of them, according to a new study by The Wilderness Society. In addition, U.S. PIRG released a report documenting the clean drinking water, recreation, and wildlife habitat benefits of roadless areas in West Virginia.

The issue of roads in the Monongahela assumes increased importance today with the closing of a public comment period on a Bush administration’s proposal to remove Roadless Rule protections for 202,000 acres of forest in the Monongahela and nearly 60 million acres in national forests around the country. To date, more than 4 million Americans have commented in favor of these protections, including nearly 7,000 in West Virginia.

Economic and Ecological Costs of Roads in the Monongahela National Forest
According to the Wilderness Society report, Ecological and Financial Implications of Roads in the Monongahela National Forest, the forest’s road network includes 3,268 miles of federal, state, county, local and private roads and 1,582 miles of roads officially overseen and managed by the Forest Service. In addition, the Forest also contains some 1,879 miles of “unclassified” roads, which are often referred to by the Monongahela staff as “woods roads,” and ultimately become the agency’s burden to manage. These “woods roads” include illegal user-created roads, old abandoned roads, and improperly closed timber haul roads

Many of the roads crisscrossing the Monongahela are causing erosion that pollutes rivers and streams that are critical to fish and that supply municipal water systems, the report stated. In fact, the Monongahela staff have released studies indicating that they understand that roads are damaging fisheries and water quality. “These damages are hidden costs that ultimately are being paid by the people of West Virginia,” said Fran Hunt of The Wilderness Society.

In addition to these hidden costs of ecological damage, the report shows that the current roads system on the Mon causes cost overruns and maintenance backlogs. In 2003, the Forest Service estimated that it would cost almost $4.5 million per year to fully maintain the Monongahela’s existing road network. By contrast, the Monongahela receives only about $2.3 million per year from Congress to maintain its roads. According to a 2003 report produced by the Monongahela’s staff, this annual funding gap has created a maintenance backlog of more than $50 million.

“Roads are expensive to build and to maintain, and taxpayers are shouldering the costs,” continued Hunt. “The Mon Forest has more roads than it can afford to maintain, and the debt is growing.”

Click here to download the report. In addition, it can be ordered (at no charge) by contacting Rick Sawicki, The Wilderness Society, 1615 M St., NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Economic and Ecological Benefits from Roadless Areas in West Virginia
Also this week, U.S. PIRG released a new report, “Our Natural Legacy: The Value of America’s Roadless National Forests,” that shows the economic value and other benefits of clean drinking water, recreation, and wildlife habitat found in roadless areas of West Virginia’s National Forests. The report is available at http://www.uspirg.org and finds the following:

• Sixty million Americans rely on clean drinking water from the national forests. Roadless areas provide the purest source of that water due to their pristine and road-free condition. In the Eastern Forest Service Region, which includes West Virginia, drinking water is worth $144.7 million annually.
  
  
• Outdoor recreation has become more and more popular over time as Americans participate in everything from mountain-biking to hunting in roadless areas. Approximately 694,000 West Virginians took part in hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching in 2001, contributing $503 million to the state economy.
  
  
• A majority of the unspoiled habitat for hundreds of threatened, endangered, and declining species is found in roadless areas. In West Virginia, 13 at-risk species are found in national forests and could be harmed by destruction of roadless areas.

A record-breaking 1.5 million Americans nationally have spoken out against the Bush administration’s July 16th proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule and replace it with a meaningless process that forces governors to seek protections for roadless areas in their states. In addition, during the comment period, more than 140 members of Congress, 130 scientists, and 110 economists spoke out in opposition to the proposal to repeal the rule.

An Opportunity for a Smart Roads Policy on the Monongahela
The reports also come as the U.S. Forest Service is revising its management plan for the Monongahela, which will guide road construction, logging, recreation, fish and wildlife protection, and development of the forest for the next two decades. Completion of a draft plan is expected in early 2005, and conservation groups are encouraging citizens to offer their suggestions to the Forest Service. Federal law requires all national forest plans to be revised every 15 years.

Despite the excess road mileage, the Monongahela’s road density is only about half the density found in the rest of West Virginia and nearby in surrounding states, according to The Wilderness Society report. “Across the East, and in West Virginia specifically, roads and development are carving up our forests and farmlands, producing more crowding, noise, and pollution,” said Anna Sale, state organizer for the Sierra Club. “We should keep these remaining wild places in the Mon just that: wild.”

“West Virginians see the Mon Forest as an oasis in a changing world; a place they can enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking,” said Dave Saville of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. “They know this forest is special and they want to see it stay that way.”

“Unfortunately, the Forest Service seems to be pursuing a course of action that may threaten the future of important places on the Monongahela that provide some protection from road building and development, including North Fork Mountain, Roaring Plains, Allegheny Mountain and the Falls of Hills Creek,” said Saville. “The agency is failing to carefully and objectively identify those lands that are still roadless, putting these special places at greater risk for logging and road construction.”

He said that this effort to narrowly define “roadless” and thus limit land protection has become a problem in national forests up and down the East Coast and in the Upper Midwest.

“The Forest Service faces a choice on the Monongahela,” said Sale. “The agency can conserve the Mon’s unique character by protecting remaining roadless areas. Or, the Forest Service can continue to use our taxpayers’ dollars to build more roads that chop the forest into smaller and less wild pieces.”