Administrative wilderness: Protecting our national forestlands in contravention of congressional intent and public policy

Preservation of our forestlands has been a hotly contested issue over the last half century. Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964, granting it the exclusive power and authority to protect public lands as wilderness. At the behest of President Clinton, however, the Forest Service instituted an administrative rule-making process to protect roadless public forestlands in a wilderness-like state. While laudable in. its aims, the Forest Service's "roadless" rule usurped the power and authority reserved in Congress under the Wilderness Act to create and set aside public lands as wilderness. As a result, the "administrative" wilderness created under the Forest Service's roadless rule lacks permanence, adequate research, public input and participation, congressional oversight, and authority. Several Western states have challenged the Forest Service's. authority to create the roadless rule in federal district court. Because of these shortfalls in the Forest Service's roadless rule, the rule should be invalidated and the Forest Service should be admonished not to create wilderness protections for public lands, as Congress is the sole governmental body with power and authority to create wilderness.