Potential RS 2477 Roads in Alaska

"The right-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted." -Revised Statute (RS) 2477, from the 1866 mining law.

This seemingly simple 135-year-old, 20-word statute has become a tool of the anti-environmental movement in its effort to thwart the sound management of public lands. These 20 words, written to encourage economic expansion after the devastation of the Civil War, have had lasting implications for pristine and roadless public land.

Over 135 years after its enactment, proponents of an ancient mining law from 1866, now known as Revised Statute (RS) 2477, are attempting to convert a system of foot paths and trails into an off-road vehicle highway system across the vast and scenic western states.

Rewriting the rules for RS 2477 claims has been a favored tactic of right-wing vehicular access groups such as the Blue Ribbon Coalition and county supremacy groups in Utah and Alaska. This activity persists despite an expansive public road network across our lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

For example, the Forest Service national road network includes 400,000 miles of roads across national forest lands, yet anti-environmental groups want to misapply this ancient provision of the mining law to create thousands of more miles of roads across wild lands in the West.

An explosion of rights-of-way across public lands causes a host of detrimental environmental impacts. Uncontrolled, unplanned, and unmanageable construction of new roads in pristine areas increases the risk of vandalism to valuable archeological sites; encourages an explosion of noisy, soil-churning ORV use in sensitive areas; undermines federal management of public lands; increases noise and crowding; and creates significant safety risks to tourists who unwittingly travel these primitive routes which may, at first glance, appear to be routinely maintained.

Alaska and RS 2477

The state of Alaska has indicated that it plans to assert RS 2477 claims for up to 1,700 roads, tracks or dogsled trails. Many of the contested routes in Alaska are within the National Park System. Since 1993, The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has been documenting possible RS 2477 claims and conducting research on the validity of the claims. In 1997, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) attached the so-called "pave the parks" rider to a flood relief bill. This rider, if enacted, would have made it easier for states to claim the faintest foot-path as a highway. Senator Stevens' attempt was met with widespread opposition throughout the public and was soundly defeated.



Download the PDF (rs2477.pdf, 2.55 Mb)

Download the Legend (rs2477_legend.pdf, 466 Kb)

Map credits: Jason Geck, David Pray.

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