|Idaho Roadless Rule|| Late in the Bush administration, the U.S.
Forest Service issued the Idaho Roadless Rule, a regulation
establishing special rules to govern management of undeveloped
roadless areas in Idaho's National Forests. Idaho has the most
roadless public forest lands of any state in the lower-48 United
States, with more than nine million acres. These pristine lands
belong to all Americans. They provide outstanding opportunities
for hunting, fishing and hiking, as well as essential habitat
for rare wildlife species such as grizzly bears, gray wolves,
caribou, and wolverines. However, while the 2001 Roadless Rule
protected these lands, the Bush administration's Idaho Roadless
Rule creates new loopholes that open the door for road
construction and logging across 5.3 million acres of roadless
areas -- an area more than twice the size of Yellowstone
National Park -- and leaves more than 400,000 acres of roadless
areas entirely unprotected. Representing a coalition of national
and regional conservation