Autumn Equinox 2009, Volume 14 # 3

Healthy forest soils provide nutrients and the physical foundation for plants.  Soils are also home to many animals that burrow beneath the surface.  One important characteristic of forest soil is that it contains pore space or tiny cracks and crevices that fill with air and water.  Pore spaces allow rain and snowmelt to enter the soil, gases to escape, and tree and other plant roots to grow.   Compaction and Erosion

In 2008, the Legacy Road and Trail Remediation Initiative (LRRI) provided funds for the repair, maintenance, and decommissioning of Forest Service roads and trails. In this analysis, we document the expenditures on these projects in national forests in Idaho and Montana and project the economic impacts of these projects in the counties in which the work occurred.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was adopted by the U.S. Forest Service on January 12, 2001, after the most extensive public involvement in the history of federal rulemaking.  The Roadless Rule generally prohibited road construction and timber cutting in 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas, covering about 30 percent of the National Forest System.  The Roadless Rule came under a coordinated and sustained attack by the timber industry and its allies immediately after it was adopted in January 2001, and over eight years later, a final resolution has not yet been reached.