Read the Associated Press article [1] that appeared in the Seattle Times, Oregonian, Billings Gazette and elsewhere. Press release follows:

Forest Service must turn over road and off-road vehicle impact data for 84 Western Forests

Missoula, MT. - Concerned about the impacts that decaying roads and uncontrolled off-road vehicle use are having on public lands, Wildlands CPR and the Western Environmental Law Center spent 2 years battling the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to acquire critical information regarding the impacts of motorized recreation on our national forests. Today, in a final victory, a federal district court entered a consent decree compelling the agency to turn over the data.

Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Wildlands CPR first requested the information in October, 2005. Wildlands CPR’s attorney, David Bahr of the Western Environmental Law Center [2], noted that “This is a good resolution to a bad situation. The FOIA requires agencies to respond to information requests within 20 days. Disclosure delays of two years are far beyond what we should tolerate from our government.”

Wildlands CPR, a citizen watchdog group, plans to use the information to help citizens and conservation organizations ensure the integrity of public lands, prevent off-road vehicle abuse and conserve and restore natural resources threatened by irresponsible motorized recreation.

Bethanie Walder, Wildlands CPR’s Executive Director, said “This information makes up the most comprehensive collection of baseline data regarding road and motor vehicle impacts on Forest Service lands in the West. Release of this information will show what the agency knows, and what it doesn’t know about the extent of damage unmanaged off-road vehicles and decaying roads are inflicting on public land, water and wildlife.” They will make the information and analysis available to others, serving as an invaluable resource to those who want to lessen off-road vehicle abuse and address the damage caused by unauthorized roads.

Before retiring recently, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said that the scars left by cross-country off-road vehicle use are one of the four major threats affecting our nation’s forests and grasslands. In his 2003 Earth Day speech, Chief Bosworth said, “Each year we get hundreds of miles of what we euphemistically refer to as ‘unplanned roads and trails.’ That’s pretty typical for a lot of national forests, and it’s only going to get worse.” Local debates over where off-road vehicles should and should not be allowed to travel tend to swirl around these unlawful ‘unplanned roads and trails’ that run alongside a stream, through habitat critical to en-dangered species, or into the heart of roadless areas, to name just a few examples.

Wildlands CPR believes that the information obtained from the Forest Service will reveal that “unauthorized” roads and routes are growing in number and impact. Initial documents provided by the agency suggest that at least ten percent of the “roads” on Forest Service lands in Montana, northern Idaho and northwest South Dakota are “unauthorized roads.”