WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is delaying for at least two months a ban on road-building in a third of the country's national forests.

The forest plan, which President Clinton announced Jan. 4, has been attacked by western Republican lawmakers.

The delay is in line with an order President Bush made to halt or slow down a series of regulations and rules that the Clinton administration issued in its final days.

The forest restrictions were published in the Federal Register before Bush took office, so he can't block or alter them without going through a new rule-making process, but this month's actions change the date the plan will become effective from March 13 to May 12.

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say the plan is still under review.

Under the plan, the Forest Service would ban road-building in 58.5 million acres of federal forests where no roads currently exist, including 9.3 million acres in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

The chairman of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, appealed to Bush to work with Congress on rolling back the plan.

Several senators who are opposed to the plan say they will use a never-invoked 1996 law that allows Congress to rescind a regulation within 60 days.