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Roadless definition diverges All of the reports about roadless areas have me perplexed about how a roadless area is defined. If, for example, there is a long skinny area between two roads, does it still count as roadless even though no place in it would be far from a road? Or is there a minimum width or a buffer included in the definition? -- Connie B., Ashland It's a great question, but the answer is both simple and perplexing, Connie. Officially, a roadless area on national forest land is considered that which includes at least 5,000 acres of land uninterrupted by roads, explained Steve Waterman, spokesman for the Rogue River National Forest. They need not have a buffer and can be just about any shape, he said. "Those are the inventoried roadless areas," he said, noting they were identified either by the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation II during the 1970s, President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan or individual forest plans. "These can be surrounded by roads or anything else," he said. "Of course, the debate has gone a little further than that with some groups wanting to reduce roadless area size to 1,000 acres." He refers to an effort by environmental groups to protect smaller areas that are currently unroaded. (Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541) 776-4376; or by e-mail to: [email protected] Please include your name, address and phone number for verification.) Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA