GREEN RIVER - The Bush administration's proposed roadless rule is unnecessary and ultimately will be detrimental to Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal says.

The governor said in a letter to the head of the U.S. Forest Service released Tuesday that forest policy should be made at the federal level, not by states. Freudenthal said he sees no real need for the Bush administration's proposed roadless rule.

Freudenthal said he didn't think the original Clinton roadless rule, nor the Bush administration's proposal for governing roadless areas, is good policy or good law.

He said the best process to develop management of roadless areas is through the existing forest planning revision/amendment process.

Freudenthal said the administration's proposed roadless rule gives the states and their governors no more authority than they already have. He said the rule would result in states such as Wyoming having to engage in forest planning efforts that should be done at the federal level.

"As a practical matter, I do not see the proposed roadless rule as a viable way to address management or protection of roadless areas," the governor wrote USFS Chief Dale Bosworth in a letter dated Nov. 15.

"The proposed rule is a cosmetic attempt to shift the Forest Service's responsibility for land use planning to the state - without shifting any authority or funding to see the plans implemented."

Freudenthal said the current forest-planning process is sufficient for providing opportunities for state and local interests to be represented.

"The new rule would be disadvantageous to our state," the governor wrote. "Wyoming does not have the fiscal or technical resources to drive the public involvement needed to adequately complete the roadless review. The notion that Wyoming can review every Forest Service plan and develop positions in less than 1,000 man hours is absurd."

Liz Howell with the Wyoming Wilderness Association applauded the governor's stand on the proposed roadless rules.

"We know that managing federal lands takes expertise, a huge staff and lots of money … and (the Bush proposal) would put the state in jeopardy," Howell said. "Hunters, anglers and wildlife lovers know we need the remaining roadless areas to retain our wildlife heritage."

The roadless area conservation rule protects nearly 60 million acres of the most pristine areas of the country's national forests and would protect 3.5 million acres in Wyoming, according to WWA data.

Governors petition

The Bush administration's plan is scheduled to be completed early next year.

The rule, announced July 12, would require governors to decide by 2006 whether to petition the Forest Service to block road-building in about 58 million acres of national forests where it is now prohibited.

The roadless areas are currently managed under various forest plans. The plans may have protections of their own and dictate if roadless areas are to be managed for wilderness qualities or for human disturbance.

Freudenthal said he sees no reason to change the current law.

He said as the law stands, governors can already petition the secretary of agriculture to have an area managed differently, or to include areas for pristine management.

He said governors can also petition to redraw boundaries around roadless areas to incorporate more, or less, protected areas. A governor can also hold public hearings to determine the public's thoughts and concerns about management direction.

"It appears to me that the current forest-planning process affords some deference to state and local interests in providing comments and preferences on roadless management direction - without the Forest Service having to create a completely new rule," Freudenthal said in the letter.

The governor said the proposed rule is not flexible enough for future governors, citing the ever-changing nature and usage of Wyoming's national forests.

"It appears that there is a single, 18-month window in which governors can petition the Forest Service for roadless designations," the letter said. "I do not think it prudent to fix the state's position, relative to roadless (areas), based on a single governor's perceptions from 2004."

The Clinton administration's roadless rule took effect in January 2001, which meant no logging or oil and gas development on about 31 percent of the country's 191 million acres of national forests.

The ban spurred several legal challenges and a federal judge in Wyoming overturned the ban last year. Conservation groups appealed that decision to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, where the case is pending.

More than 2.5 million people nationwide commented on the original Clinton plan. Of those, 95 percent favored forest protection. The Forest Service required public hearings on the Clinton plan, but not on the Bush administration's proposal. A public comment period on the proposal ended Nov. 15.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at gearino@trib.com.