A Look Down the Trail, Spring 2009

Restoring Watersheds Through Stimulus Funding

Wildlands CPR revives and protects wildland ecosystems by promoting watershed restoration through road removal, preventing new wildland road construction, and stopping off-road vehicle abuse.

We’ve been working round-the-clock since mid-November to promote the Forest Service Legacy Roads program as a critical component of any final stimulus package. Some days we thought we had a great chance at success, and other days seemed rather grim. In the end, we landed somewhere in the middle.

What we proposed

We developed a $500 million proposal to fund the Legacy Roads program for 2 years, at $250 million per year. More than 100 groups and retired agency staff, from all over the country, endorsed the proposal. We then submitted it to key Congressional offices in the House and Senate.

The original House bill included some report language that mentioned the Legacy Roads program by name as an example of a good program for stimulus dollars. Unfortunately, that language didn’t make it into the final House bill or the final conference bill. However, after much education Congress did include the word “decommissioning” in the explicit list of how Forest Service Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CIM) funds and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Construction funds could be spent. Congressional staff are starting to understand that road decommissioning is a smart way to bring green
jobs to rural communities.

What Congress adopted

The final American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, included $650 million to the Forest Service for CIM, and $180 million to the BLM for construction (in addition to other funds those agencies received). The agencies were given 30 days to obligate the funds. The Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and numerous other entities also received funds for restoration and maintenance/improvement.

The Forest Service CIM money can be used for nearly any type of road maintenance, in addition to other facilities maintenance and improvement, like fixing visitor centers. The Senate initially requested that the FS spend $380 million of the CIM funds on roads and trails; though that language didn’t make it into the final bill, it does provide an idea of how they may allocate the funds. The bill’s purpose is to create jobs, but it also directs that these funds be focused on improving natural resources. With no clear direction, the
agency could invest a lot of money maintaining or even upgrading roads that really aren’t needed anymore.

What’s next

Wildlands CPR put together an urgent letter to the acting Under Secretary of Agriculture and other Forest Service officials the day after the bill was signed, again endorsed by the groups who supported the initial proposal, requesting critical sideboards for spending the roads/trails money. We explicitly asked that they spend it on Legacy Roads type projects to provide green jobs in rural communities by decommissioning unneeded roads and stormproofing needed roads. We also requested that they use a portion of the funds to identify the minimum road system and prioritize roads for reclamation.

We know they’ll spend some of the money on good projects, but they’ll also spend some on projects we won’t like. While we should fight those bad projects aggressively, let’s work to highlight and promote the good ones, and give the agencies a pat on the back where they deserve one. This can be a good second step for Legacy Roads, and if we can help the agency create green jobs while restoring watersheds, we can continue to advance our case for long-term, sustained funding for road decommissioning.