Phosphate producers in Idaho are welcoming the state-specific roadless rule adopted earlier this month for the Caribou National Forest as good for the industry. “We’re fine with it,” declared Alan Prouty, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for J.R. Simplot Co. “We see it as further increasing the longevity of the industry.”
The U.S. Forest Service earlier this month completed the rule for managing 9.3 million acres of roadless national forest. The action makes Idaho the first state in the country with such protection, and provides access to nearly 20,000 acres considered eligible for phosphate leasing in roadless areas. Colorado is believed very close to adopting its own roadless rule.
The Wilderness Society and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition opposed the plan because it opens 405,000 acres of roadless lands to full forest uses, including logging, road construction, and phosphate mining. But the Idaho Conservation League and Trout Unlimited hailed the plan because it will allow temporary roads only in the acres of roadless area where limited logging can take place to reduce fire hazard.
The plan designates 250 roadless areas and establishes five management themes that guide road construction, timber cutting, and mineral development. It was published Oct. 16 in the Federal Register and now supersedes the roadless rule put in place before President Clinton left office. The Clinton Rule has since been challenged by 10 lawsuits and ruled invalid in federal court.
Simplot’s Prouty figured the fact that phosphate is considered a national strategic mineral prevailed for the mining industry. “That’s why the Caribou Forest plan allowed for the exploration and development of phosphate in roadless areas through the NEPA process,” he pointed out. “In addition, the Idaho Roadless Area Management Plan was built using the pre-existing management plans for all the national forests in Idaho. For the Caribou, that included the provision for phosphate mining, which makes exploration and development in southeastern Idaho consistent with the longstanding forest management plan. Even the Clinton Roadless Rule allowed for this development.”
In giving the plan a thumbs-up, Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Idaho Conservation League remarked, “Appreciation for the land and for Idaho traditions of hunting, camping, hiking and fishing led to a plan that will ensure that our kids and grandkids have the opportunity to experience Idaho at its best.”
But critics said the new rule would result in 15,000 acres of logging and 50 miles of road construction in Idaho roadless areas during the next 15 years in order to haul out 75 million board feet of logs, or 15,000 truck loads, according to Forest Service estimates.
Marv Hoyt, Idaho director for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, warned that most of the more than 400,000 acres of roadless lands that will lose protection are located in eastern Idaho, within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. “More specifically,” Hoyt added, “the Idaho Roadless Rule provides a special dispensation to the phosphate mining industry in southeastern Idaho. Thousands of acres in five roadless areas that would be protected under the Clinton Roadless Rule would be opened to phosphate mining, along with all of its ancillary activities.” Hoyt said it is likely that the Idaho Rule will be challenged in court, and “if so the coalition will certainly consider participating in such a legal challenge.”