The Forest Service manages about 192 million acres of land that make up the National Forest System. The agency has proposed to make ecological sustainability its top priority in an attempt to sustain a flow of products, services, and values from the national forests and grasslands. One of the most debated issues is the role of roads, especially in areas that are now roadless. This report summarizes GAO's findings on how the potential roadless rule will affect the Forest Service's ability to meet its goals of restoring and maintaining ecological sustainability. GAO found that building roads in national forests can have both positive and negative effects. Road construction can alter a forest's ecosystem by facilitating timber harvesting and disturbing wildlife. However, roads can be used to repair environmental damage done by other activities. Forest Service officials at the 10 National forests that GAO reviewed provided general observations on the proposed rule. In GAO's view, the proposed rule would have little effect on forest management efforts because there was no plan to build roads in roadless areas unless it was determined that doing so would restore the forest's ecosystem.

An updated investigation of alternate pathways for American environmental policymaking made necessary by legislative gridlock. The “golden era” of American environmental lawmaking in the 1960s and 1970s saw twenty-two pieces of major environmental legislation (including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act) passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed into law by presidents of both parties. But since then partisanship, the dramatic movement of Republicans to the right, and political brinksmanship have led to legislative gridlock on environmental issues. In this book, Christopher Klyza and David Sousa argue that the longstanding legislative stalemate at the national level has forced environmental policymaking onto other pathways. Klyza and Sousa identify and analyze five alternative policy paths, which they illustrate with case studies from 1990 to the present: “appropriations politics” in Congress; executive authority; the role of the courts; “next-generation” collaborative experiments; and policymaking at the state and local levels. This updated edition features a new chapter discussing environmental policy developments from 2006 to 2012, including intensifying partisanship on the environment, the failure of Congress to pass climate legislation, the ramifications of Massachusetts v. EPA, and other Obama administration executive actions (some of which have reversed Bush administration executive actions). Yet, they argue, despite legislative gridlock, the legacy of 1960s and 1970s policies has created an enduring “green state” rooted in statutes, bureaucratic routines, and public expectations.

The Forest Service is proposing new regulations to protect certain roadless areas within the National Forest Service. This is the draft environmental impact statement for those areas.

The Handbook provides internal guidance and establishes national policy for conducting consultation and conferences pursuant to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The purpose of the Handbook is to promote efficiency and nationwide consistency within and between the Services. The Handbook addresses the major consultation processes, including informal, formal, emergency, and special consultations, and conferences.