ACTION TIMELINE

September 19, 2005 – The Center's Forest Policy Director Todd Schulke was selected to sit on a national advisory committee organized to provide recommendations on management strategies for states' roadless areas.

September 20, 2006 – As a result of a Center-sponsored lawsuit, a federal judge threw out a controversial Bush-administration repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule and reinstated protections for more than 58 million acres of roadless areas on national forests.

March 5, 2008 – The Center, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit challenging a western Colorado natural-gas pipeline that would require construction of new roads in protected roadless areas.

March 13, 2008 – The Center and more than 50 other organizations released a report detailing the Bush administration's plan to open the door to development in Idaho's roadless backcountry forests — forests currently protected under the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

June 6, 2008 – In response to the Center's March lawsuit, a federal court ordered a temporary injunction halting all construction on the contested western Colorado natural gas pipeline.

August 14, 2008 – The Center, along with seven other environmental groups, filed suit against the U. S. Forest Service for its failure to protect wildlife and roadless areas on four Southern California national forests. 

January 2, 2009 – The Center, in concert with the Sierra Club, submitted an appeal to the Forest Service opposing a proposed logging development that would destroy part of the Kilkenny Roadless Area on the White Mountain National Forest.

January 21, 2009 – As part of a coalition of conservation groups, the Center filed an appeal to stop an 11th-hour Bush-administration plan to clearcut a roadless area in the White Mountain National Forest.

February 17, 2009 – The Forest Service denied an appeal by the Center and allies seeking to halt the Mill Brook project, a proposed timber sale calling for logging in the Kilkenny roadless area in the White Mountain National Forest.

February 20, 2009 – The Forest Service denied the Center's January appeal to halt logging and road construction in the Kilkenny Roadless Area.

March 5, 2009 – After denying the Center's January appeal, the Forest Service proceeded with plans for a timber sale in the Sandwich 4 Inventoried Roadless Area in the White Mountain National Forest. The Center released video footage of clearcutting in the South Carr Mountain Roadless Area, also in the White Mountain National Forest.

May 21, 2009 – The Forest Service issued a decision that approved a fifth timber sale within an established roadless area on the White Mountain National Forest.

July 2009 – The Center released Saving Our Natural Legacy: The Future of America's Last Roadless Forests, a report on the value of our national-forest roadless areas and the need to permanently protect them nationwide.

May 21, 2009 – The Forest Service approved its fifth roadless-area timber sale on the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire — the Stevens Brook timber sale, slated to log 157 acres in the South Carr Mountain inventoried roadless area.

May 28, 2009 – The Obama administration issued a new directive requiring the Forest Service to receive approval from the secretary of agriculture for any new road construction within 58 million acres of inventoried roadless areas.

August 5, 2009 – Thanks in part to Center litigation, a federal court affirmed protection for almost 50 million acres of roadless national forests and grasslands.

September 30, 2009 – In a successful resolution to the Center's August 2008 suit, a federal court ruled that Forest Service management plans for four Southern California national forests illegally failed to protect roadless areas.

December 7, 2009 – The Center, along with four other environmental groups, filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service to stop construction of a new off-road vehicle path in a roadless area in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

December 8, 2009 – In response to a Center-sponsored suit, a federal judged issued an injunction halting the Orion North timber sale in an ecologically rich roadless area on the Tongass National Forest.

December 22, 2009 – The Center, as part of a diverse coalition of groups, filed a lawsuit that challenged a Bush administration decision to exempt the Tongass from the National Roadless Rule.

May 24, 2010 – The Center sent a letter to the Obama administration to extend its “timeout” on roadless-area destruction — as well as to make sure that directive afforded true protection to all roadless areas.

Photo of Mount Biedeman Wilderness Study Area in Bodie Hills courtesy Bob Wick/BLM.