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The State of North Dakota has taken aim at roadless
areas on the Dakota Prairie Grassland, using RS 2477 a tool the State
hopes to eliminate the Forest Service’s abilities to protect these
rare prairie wildlands. The State is using every legal tool in its
arsenal to get control of routes in roadless areas, with the apparent
purpose of destroying their wilderness potential.
For example, in early 2003, North Dakota put the Forest
Service on notice that it intended to press RS 2477 claims to two
jeep-tracks inside grassland roadless areas, claiming as ‘constructed
highways’ these routes which the Forest Service doesn’t maintain and
which are so inconsequential they do not appear on agency visitor
maps.
The 2003 claims followed North Dakota’s 2001 federal
court challenge to the Roadless Area Conservation Rule on the grounds
that protecting roadless areas would disrupt the State’s RS 2477
claims. This despite the fact that the Roadless Rule clearly stated it
would have no effect on such valid claims. While the State has no real
legal argument, public records show that the Forest Service is
negotiating a potential settlement with the State that apparently
addresses the RS 2477 issues. The State has also challenged the Dakota
Prairie Grasslands forest plan as a way to try to press RS 2477
claims.
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