Protect Forest Roadless Areas

[Guest guest]

* WILD ALERT

* Friday, August 10, 2001

****************************

 

Dear WildAlert Subscriber:

We are forced by the Bush Administration to once again ask you to take action to help save roadless areas on our national forests. As we've mentioned here before, the Bush Administration is ignoring over a million public comments in support of roadless area protection and has set up a fast-track, technically-focused comment period. This process was designed to disenfranchise the typical American who is concerned about his or her forests and wishes to speak out in support of roadless protection.

 

But we're determined to make it simple for you to take action and to send your comments to the Forest Service, stating, in no uncertain terms, that you want protection for the last remaining 58 million acres of wild places on our national forests.

 

If you are already a WildAlert member, please just REPLY to this message and then hit your SEND button and a letter similar to the one below will be emailed automatically to the Forest Service on your behalf. If you have received this email from a friend, please follow this link to take action on this issue:

http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2 & item=584

 

BACKGROUND

An historic number of Americans took part in the original, 3-year public process determining how the last of the best of our national forests should be managed. Both the scientific community and the majority of the American public want these remaining wildlands protected from industrial development. The Bush Administration quickly determined that the roadless conservation rule did not fit with its agenda to open national lands to Big Oil and other developers. First, the Administration failed to defend the Rule in court (we're appealing). Now, the Administration is asking for detailed comments within an impossibly short timeframe.

TAKE ACTION

Please don't let the Bush Administration subvert your wishes in the future protection of roadless areas. Hit REPLY to this message and then hit your SEND button and a letter similar to the one below will be emailed automatically to the Forest Service on your behalf. Or go to our site to take action and tell your friends:

http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2 & item=584

 

You can also use the sample letter below as a model for comments you send yourself.

 

SAMPLE LETTER

 

USDA-Forest Service-CAT

Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments

P.O. Box 221090

Salt Lake City, Utah 84122

EMAIL TO: roadless_anpr

 

 

Dear Chief Bosworth,

I am writing to ask, as an official comment to the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, that the Forest Service's Roadless Area Conservation Rule be implemented in full and without exception, as published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2001.

 

Modifying the Roadless Area Conservation Rule through individual forest plans would return the management of these vital wild areas to a decision-making process that has not adequately protected or conserved roadless areas in the past.

QUESTION 1: What is the appropriate role of local forest planning as required by NFMA in evaluating protection and management of Inventoried Roadless Areas?

 

Forest planning has clearly failed to provide adequate protection of roadless areas and will continue to do so in the future, especially given that the Administration is also weakening forest planning regulations. Under current forest plans, about 60 percent of the remaining roadless areas are available for road construction and logging. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is needed to prevent further incremental loss of roadless areas. The appropriate role for forest planning is to provide additional protection of roadless areas, such as preventing off-road vehicle damage, and identifying roadless areas omitted from Forest Service inventories.

QUESTION 2: What is the best way for the Forest Service to work with the variety of States, tribes, local communities, other organizations, and individuals in a collaborative manner to ensure that concerns about roadless values are heard and addressed through a fair and open process?

 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was developed through the most extensive public involvement in the history of federal rulemaking, with more than 600 public hearings nationwide. More than 1.6 million Americans submitted official comments, 95% of which supported strongest possible protections for remaining roadless areas. States, tribes, communities, and the general public had ample opportunity to review and comment on the proposal. The final Rule addressed many views expressed during the public comment period and incorporated many suggested changes.

 

QUESTION 3: How should inventoried roadless areas be managed to provide for healthy forests, including protection from severe wildfires and the buildup of hazardous fuels as well as to provide for the detection and prevention of insect and disease outbreak?

 

The best way to maintain healthy roadless areas is to keep them roadless. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule already provides exceptions for roadbuilding and logging to address wildfires and forest health. According to the Forest Service, less than 2% of inventoried roadless areas are at combined risk of insects, disease, and fire. The Forest Service has successfully controlled 98% of wildfires in inventoried roadless areas without building roads into those areas.

 

QUESTION 4: How should communities and private property near Inventoried Roadless Areas be protected from the risks associated with natural events, such as major wildfires that may occur on adjacent federal lands?

 

See answer to Question 3, above. Also, the rule gives forest managers discretion, on a site-specific basis, to thin small-diameter trees where needed to restore ecological processes, provide habitat for endangered species, and avert catastrophic wildfire. Wildfires are much more likely to start in areas with roads, due to increased public access.

 

QUESTION 5: What is the best way to implement the laws that ensure States, tribes, organizations, and private citizens have reasonable access to property they own within Inventoried Roadless Areas?

 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has no effect on access to state and private land inholdings. Roadless areas are no different from any other national forest lands regarding inholding access. The Bush administration should not be perpetuating the myth that the Rule denies access to property inholdings.

 

QUESTION 6: What are the characteristics, environmental values, social and economic considerations, and other factors the Forest Service should consider as it evaluates IRAs?

 

The Forest Service has already identified roadless area values through the public process for the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, including clean drinking water, fishing and swimming, rare wildlife habitat, large undisturbed landscapes, barriers to weeds and pests, scientific research, open space and unspoiled vistas, Native American religious and cultural observances.

 

The real economic value of National Forests comes from recreation and environmental quality of life. Approximately 85 percent of the revenue generated from America's national forests comes from recreational activities, more than five times the amount generated by logging.

 

QUESTION 7: Are there specific activities that should be expressly prohibited or expressly allowed for Inventoried Roadless Areas through Forest Plan revisions or amendments?

 

Road building and commercial logging should generally be prohibited in roadless areas, with exceptions for forest health and public safety. Allowing forest plans to make additional exceptions would completely undermine the Rule, causing continued incremental destruction of roadless areas. Roadless areas should receive additional protection through the forest planning process, especially from destructive off-road vehicle use and hard-rock mining.

 

QUESTION 8: Should Inventoried Roadless Areas selected for future roadless protection through the local forest plan revision process be proposed to Congress for

wilderness designation, or should they be maintained under a specific designation for roadless area management under the forest plan?

 

By law, forest plans must evaluate the wilderness potential of all roadless areas and make recommendations for wilderness designation by Congress. The Rule doesn't change that. Forest plans also designate roadless areas for continued roadless management, regardless of wilderness recommendations.

 

QUESTION 9: How can the Forest Service work effectively with individuals and groups with strongly competing views, values, and beliefs in evaluating and managing public lands and resources, recognizing that the agency can not meet all of the desires of all the parties?

 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule enjoys the overwhelming support of the American people, which the Bush administration needs to respect. The Rule represents a balanced approach to managing National Forests, most of which are already open to logging, mining, and drilling, while just 18 percent is designated wilderness. The Rule will protect the remaining 31 percent for future generations.

 

QUESTION 10: What other concerns, comments, or interests relating to the protection and management of inventoried roadless areas are important?

 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule should be retained and implemented as is. The Bush administration needs to do all that it can to ensure protection of America's remaining roadless areas. In particular, the Forest Service should stop preparing timber sales in the Tongass National Forest in violation of the Rule. The administration should also stop undermining the legality of the Rule and vigorously defend it against lawsuits. In addition, the administration should call off its efforts to weaken the environmental safeguards and public participation opportunities in the forest planning regulations.

 

 

*************************************************************** For a full list of Action Items, visit http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

 

***************************************************************

An archive of past WildAlerts can be found at http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm

 

*************************************************************** WildAlert is an email action alert system brought to you by The Wilderness Society to keep you apprised of threats to our wildlands --

in the field and in Washington. WildAlert messages include updates along with clear, concise actions you can take to protect America's last wild places. You are welcome to forward WildAlerts to all those interested in saving America's wildlands.