New Logging-Roads Policy in Works at Forest Service

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Forest Service is considering obliterating many logging roads and converting others to trails, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said.

The agency is developing the policy to reduce landslides, protect municipal watersheds and limit timber harvests in parts of national forests without roads, Glickman said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) made public Friday.

Expected at the end of the year, it will reflect concerns raised last month by Wyden, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, (D-S.D.) and Montana Sen. Max Baucus, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

They include “diminishing the threat of mud and landslides, encouraging development of cheaper and more environmentally benign roads, and finally, identifying and developing strategies to protect municipal watersheds and roadless areas,” Glickman said.