Proposed Roadless Rule Comment Period Extended

September 10, 2004 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Forest Service on Wednesday announced that it has extended its public comment period 60 additional days for a proposed rule on protecting roadless values in national forests and grasslands based on several requests from the public. The original comment period was to end on Sept. 14; comments must now be received in writing by Nov. 15, 2004.

On July 16, the Forest Service published a proposed rule to revise regulations concerning the Roadless Area Conservation Rule published on Jan. 12, 2001. The proposed rule would allow governors to petition the secretary of agriculture to establish or adjust management direction that exists in forest plans for inventoried roadless areas within their state.

An interim directive remains in effect to conserve inventoried roadless areas until the new rule is publicized.

The proposed rule is available at Proposed Rule on the World Wide Web.

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