Economic Values of Protecting Roadless Areas in the United States
In October 1999, President Clinton directed the U.S. Forest Service to assess future management options for approximately 54 million acres of roadless lands on national forests in this country. This assessment is part of an overall evaluation of the environmental consequences stemming from the current 380,000-plus miles of roads on the national forests, particularly in relation to the budgets for maintaining those roads.
The purpose of this report is to present an analysis of the values associated with roadless lands in their current condition, that is, relatively free of permanent human influence. Our study covers the 42 million acres of roadless lands on national forests in the 48 conterminous states.
Roadless areas share many of the same ecological and economic values as legislatively designated Wilderness and other wildland areas. Drawing on the literature related to wilderness preservation, we grouped the values into eight categories: recreation, community, passive use, scientific, biodiversity, off-site, ecological services, and education. Where possible, we estimated dollar values.
The following discussion summarizes our findings and analysis.
