What the Austin Project Really Does — and Why Public Comments Matter

The Forest Service released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Austin Project on February 2. Because this project affects nearly 80,000 acres of public land in Eastern Oregon, Forest Access For All (FAFA) took the time to read the document carefully, review the maps, and compare what is written to what exists on the ground.

What we found raises serious concerns about access, transparency, and whether the project stays within the emergency authority it relies upon.

Emergency Authority Is Being Used Broadly

The Austin Project is being advanced as an emergency action to reduce wildfire risk and protect public and firefighter safety. Emergency authority is meant to accelerate fuels treatment — not to quietly implement long-term access restrictions or unrelated management objectives.

The DEIS does not clearly show that widespread road storage is necessary to meet wildfire safety goals. Instead, road storage is treated as a preexisting condition, even where roads remain open and in regular public use.

That distinction matters, because treating something as “already decided” removes it from meaningful analysis and public review.

“Stored” Roads Are Closed Roads Under Policy

Under Forest Service policy, Maintenance Level 1 — often referred to as “stored” roads — are not open to public motorized use. They are reserved for administrative access and are typically managed with barriers to keep them closed.

Yet many roads shown as stored in the Austin Project are:

• physically open and drivable,

• used regularly by the public for firewood, hunting, grazing access, and emergency travel,

• and not subject to current closure orders or enforcement.

  
  

Some of these roads have had unlocked gates for decades. Others were never physically closed at all.

When the DEIS treats these roads as already unavailable to the public, it misrepresents existing conditions. If the baseline is wrong, the impact analysis that follows cannot be accurate.

No Clear List of Roads Affected

Despite the scale of the project, the DEIS does not provide a clear, road-by-road list identifying which roads are being treated as stored or unavailable to the public.

Instead, access changes are embedded in maps and assumptions, making it difficult for the public to understand exactly what is affected and how.

Transparency matters — especially when public access is at stake.

Watershed and Restoration Actions Raise Questions

The DEIS also proposes watershed actions, including placement of large woody debris in streams. These actions are not clearly tied to emergency wildfire risk reduction, and the document does not explain how increasing fuel loads in riparian corridors aligns with firefighter and public safety goals.

Emergency authority should be used carefully and narrowly. When projects bundle multiple objectives together, it becomes harder for the public to evaluate what is truly necessary and what is not.

Local Government Review Was Constrained

At a recent Grant County NRAC meeting, Forest Service staff were asked directly whether stored roads would remain available for public motorized use. While staff emphasized that no “new” closures were occurring, they did not state that stored roads would remain open and acknowledged that ML1 roads are technically closed under policy.

NRAC members also requested paper copies of the DEIS so they could review and comment effectively on behalf of the County. That request was partially denied, limiting meaningful local government participation.

Why Public Comments Matter

Words like “stored” and “administrative use” may sound technical, but their real-world effect is simple: fewer places the public can legally go.

That’s why it’s so important for people who actually use these roads to submit comments explaining:

• how they use the area,

• which roads they rely on,

• and what access loss would mean for their families and communities.

  
  

FAFA does not write comments for you. We built a tool to help you organize your thoughts and submit your own comment in your own words.

👉 You can access the comment tool here:https://www.forestaccessforall.org/blank-2

The comment deadline is March 4. If access matters to you, now is the time to put your experience on the record.