WASHINGTON, D.C.- A road ban that would have prevented logging, road construction and other activities on 58.5 million acres of federal forests, except in rare circumstances, was blocked by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge in Boise, Idaho.

Lodge stated that the rule would cause "irreparable harm" to federal forest lands and those that neighbor it.

The ban was praised by environmentalists as a way to protect the nation's most pristine forest lands (which is a total area more than twice the size of Ohio) from developers. Opponents, including the timber and mining industries, say the rule needlessly places valuable resources off limits and puts forests at risk to wildfire and disease.

Environmentalists said they planned to appeal Lodge's decision, which they blamed in part on the Bush administration's failure to vigorously defend the rule in court.