Washington, D.C. - The Clinton Administration received harsh bipartisan criticism during a Congressional oversight hearing today for allowing key decisions on its Roadless Initiative to be developed through extensive consultation with a handful of environmentalists while allowing minimal input from the general public.

At the oversight hearing held by the U.S. House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, Subcommittee, Republican Members and Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak criticized Administration witnesses Michael P. Dombeck, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and James Lyons, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Two years ago Chief Dombeck explained to this Subcommittee that he was going to implement a 'time-out' on building roads in roadless areas for 18 months or until a roads policy was developed by the agency," said U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, Chairman of the U.S. Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. "Since then we've seen the Administration divide this issue, creating a separate rule-making process for roadless areas. This change in approach appears to have been done in consultation with and at the request of the Heritage Forest Campaign.

"The Heritage Forest Campaign was created by the National Audubon Society from more than $3.5 million in tax-free grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts. This coalition of environmental groups, including The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, and others, was established with the purpose of preventing future access to approximately 60 million acres of national forest lands," said Chenoweth-Hage. "Based on a preliminary analysis of thousands of documents obtained from the Administration and the agency by this Committee, we have learned that a handful of environmentalists in the Heritage Forest Campaign have had unprecedented influence with the Administration on this issue. These individuals had continuous access at all levels to the Federal employees that were directly involved in the creation of the rule-making. This access was not limited to meetings, which were numerous, but included the providing of draft language, legal memoranda, and survey research data to the Administration which was then used to develop and justify the roadless initiative."

"By extending a ban on building new roads, the Clinton-Gore administration has chosen to push their unrealistic agenda of preventing the public from entering public lands," said U.S. Rep. George Radonovich (R-CA), the Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus. "Such elitist actions by the Forest Service would reserve the benefits of our taxpayer-owned forests to a favored few. In many instances, only those strong enough to hike into restricted areas could enjoy the forests. Senior citizens, disabled individuals and those who prefer off-road and recreational vehicles could be barred from experiencing the forests."

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) joined Subcommittee Members in expressing reservations on the Clinton Administration's Roadless Initiative. "These proposals represent a significant and abrupt policy change," Stupak stated. "While I appreciate Forest Service goals for health watersheds and sustainable forest management, I am surprised that the Forest Service has taken a top-down approach to the road issues."

Stupak also expressed concerns that the proposals are not site-specific, the public process was untimely, and the economic effects may be harmful.

For more information, please check the House Committee on Resources Home Page at http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/

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