Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management

The Department of Agriculture is revising Subpart B of Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Protection of Inventoried Roadless Areas, by adopting a new rule that establishes a petitioning process that will provide Governors an opportunity to seek establishment of or adjustment to management requirements for National Forest System inventoried roadless areas within their States. The opportunity for submitting State petitions is available for 18 months following the effective date of this final rule. Under this final rule, submission of a petition is strictly voluntary, and management requirements for inventoried roadless areas would be guided by individual land management plans until and unless these management requirements are changed through a State-specific rulemaking. Elsewhere in this part of today's Federal Register, the Department is announcing the establishment of a national advisory committee in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. II) to assist the Secretary with the implementation of this rule. The preamble of this rule includes a discussion of the public comments received on the proposed rule published July 16, 2004 (69 FR 42636) and the Department's responses to the comments.