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How can Wilderness be "roadless" if it includes existing vehicle routes? |
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The term "road" when applied to the issue of Wilderness is a specific legal term based on the clear intent of Congress, as specified during discussion and passage of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). Accordingly, BLM uses the following road definition derived from the House Report accompanying FLPMA:
The word 'roadless' refers to the absence of roads which have been improved and maintained by mechanical means to insure relatively regular and continuous use. A way maintained solely by the passage of vehicles does not constitute a road. (Report 94-1163, page 17, May 15, 1976)
Therefore, a jeep trail created and maintained simply by use and not by mechanical means does not constitute as a "road" in the legal sense and can exist within a Wilderness.
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