CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The U.S. Forest Service says it's reviewing a federal judge's ruling to overturn a 7-year-old ban on road building and logging in nearly a third of national forest land.

Spokesman Joe Walsh said Wednesday that Forest Service lawyers are considering the implications and the agency's response to the ruling issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer of Wyoming.

Brimmer overturned the federal government's "roadless rule," saying it was enacted in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wilderness Act.

Brimmer's ruling is the latest chapter in a lengthy dispute over the legality of the rule issued in the final days of the Clinton administration in 2001.

Environmental groups appealed Brimmer's ruling on Wednesday.