Congress /Federal Agencies -General

摘要

As previously reported in this Newsletter, vigorous legal controversy continues to surround the management of roadless areas. See Vol. XXXVI, No. 4 (2019); Vol. XXXV, No. 4 (2018); and Vol. XXXII, No. 3 (2015) of this Newsletter. In the most recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a decision from the district court upholding a provision of the Colorado Roadless Rule allowing limited coal mining and associated road construction on national forest lands near the North Fork of the Gunnison River in Colorado. See High Country Conservation Advocates v. U.S. Forest Serv. (High Country III), 951 F.3d 1217 (10th Cir. 2020). The Colorado Roadless Rule, adopted in 2012, prohibits road construction in designated areas but specifically allows for road construction and associated roads in the North Fork Coal Mining Area (North Fork Exception).