| |
About RS 2477:
A Monumental Threat to Our Natural Treasures
Across the West, state and local governments are
getting ready to file thousands of unsubstantiated claims for federal
rights-of-way under the provisions of an 1866 mining law known as RS
(Revised Statute) 2477. Repealed by Congress in 1976, this law was
originally intended to serve the narrow goal of granting the right to
construct and use highways across public lands that were not
otherwise reserved or set aside for other public uses (such as to
protect water supplies, forests, wildlife, or scenic beauty). Instead,
it is now viewed as a loophole to allow the bulldozing of a spider web
of roads across some of our most scenic and valued national parks and
refuges.
The great majority of these phantom-road claims are
illegitimate assertions meant to undermine federal protected areas,
thwart wilderness protection (because the presence of a road generally
disqualifies an area for wilderness designation), and serve special
interests, such as mining, timber, and oil and gas industries, and
off-road-vehicle users. Some counties are asserting RS 2477
road-building rights-of-way claims for cow paths, horse trails,
riverbeds, off-road vehicle routes, and for overgrown trails that have
not been maintained or driven on for decades, if ever.
Although many of these claims are obviously bogus, the
threats are all too real. The unmanaged and unnecessary creation of
new roads in pristine areas would degrade water quality, destroy and
fragment wildlife habitat, increase the risk of vandalism to
archeological sites, encourage the destructive use of off-road
vehicles outside of designated-use areas, increase erosion, destroy
the peace and quiet of wild areas, and undermine conservation efforts
for lands that are meant to be preserved for future generations. This
long-outdated statute would allow special interests to bulldoze
highways, utility corridors, and pipelines into our most precious
parks and refuges and threatens to have a lasting and devastating
impact on America’s Western public lands.
The largest emerging threat posed is a new rule adopted
by the Interior Department that makes giveaways and bulldozing under
RS 2477 easier. Learn more about the
Disclaimer Rule.
2005: Forest Service Steps Back from Proposal to Open the Door to
Damaging Highway Claims
On July 15, 2004, the Forest Service issued a draft
rule to help the agency get a handle on off-road vehicle use on its
190 million acres. Buried in the proposal were provisions that would
allow Forest Service staff to effectively recognize potentially
damaging RS 2477 rights-of-way without public input, notice, or
environmental review.
Read the proposed
rule.
The proposal to permit the Forest Service to
“ascertain” ownership of rights-of-way violates a congressional ban on
rulemakings pertaining to RS 2477, overturns an agency moratorium on
processing RS 2477 claims, and would permit the agency to revert to
guidance that defines rights-of-way in an illegally broad manner. As
the regulation is drafted, it would also likely result in the Forest
Service's abdicating its responsibility to protect forest resources
from damaging vehicle use. In short, the FS proposal to permit the FS
staff to “ascertain” whether RS 2477 right-of-way claims are valid is
poor policy and threatens public resources.
Read a September 10, 2004, comment letter by The Wilderness
Society criticizing the Forest Service’s approach.
Prominent Congressional conservationists expressed
their concern about the Forest Service proposal in an
October 8, 2004,
letter to the Chief.
Good news: the
Forest Service final rule on travel planning, announced November 2,
2005, steps back from its prior proposal. The response to comments
portion of the rule explains:
The exemption for a road or trail “which an authorized officer has
ascertained, for administrative purposes and based on available
evidence, is within a public right-of-way for a highway, such as a
right-of-way for a highway pursuant to RS 2477” has been removed from
the definition for a road or trail under Forest Service jurisdiction
in the final rule. As stated above, the remaining text in that
definition has been moved to the definitions for “National Forest
System road” and “National Forest System trail” in the final rule.
The exemption for legally documented rights-of-way held by State,
county, or other local public road authorities covers rights-of-way
under RS 2477 that have been adjudicated through the Federal court
system or otherwise formally established. The Department does not
want to give the appearance of establishing the validity of unresolved
RS 2477 right-of-way claims in determining the applicability of this
final rule.
Read
the entire Forest Service final rule.
2006:
Department of Interior poised for land giveaway
Department of the Interior documents indicate that the
agency is poised to adopt a streamlined process for considering and
approving requests from county governments in the West to gain control
of thousands of Jeep tracks and faint trails. This could entail the
federal government’s effectively surrendering control of the tracks,
some of which cross national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges,
wildernesses, and wilderness study areas. Learn
more about the land
giveaway and Norton's
Parting Shot.
|
Check out a July 2007
cartoon and an article about R.S. 2477!
JUST THE
FACTS
Just how big a threat to our public lands and private
property is RS 2477? How can we protect these special places? Who is
working to protect them? To get a quick grasp of the issue, check out
the fact sheets below.
Learn about the threat from RS 2477 and the Bush administration's
illegal 'disclaimer' rule in this 'Stop
the Public Lands Giveaway' fact sheet (date: 9/16/03)
Get a
quick overview of threats to special places in California (date:
9/16/03)
|
