Engineering > Transportation > Road Decommissioning

Decommissioning terminates a facility’s function as a road. Road decommissioning activities meet agency goals by eliminating the environmental effects of unneeded roads and by restoring land occupied by roads to a more natural state.

Roads to be decommissioned include both NFS roads that are no longer needed for National Forest management and unauthorized roads that exist on NFS lands.

Decommissioning of roads is not an allowable use of appropriations under the authorizing statute. However, since FY 1991, language in annual appropriations bills has authorized use of a portion of the appropriation for decommissioning. (Up to $15,000,000 in FY 2005).