Washington, D.C. - House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) today requested a complete copy of records from the White House and Department of Agriculture related to the Clinton-Gore Administration's controversial directive on "roadless" areas within the National Forest System.

The President's "roadless" directive would lock up more than 40 million acres of forest land from public use.

Young made his request for records on the issue in separate letters to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman.

"I have initiated an oversight review of the directive announced and issued by President Clinton on October 13, 1999, to develop regulations to 'protect' certain 'roadless' areas within the National Forest System, including the basis for and development of the directive," Young stated in his letters to Podesta and Glickman.

"Land designations and administration of the National Forest System are subjects within the jurisdiction of the Committee, as are regulatory allocations of federal land by the Forest Service. Because, in part, the Administration has acted without proper consultation with Congress it is vital that the Committee examine the underpinnings of this directive," Young wrote.

Young requested that Podesta and Glickman comply with the request by November 4 and also provide copies to U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the Ranking Democrat on the Committee.

"Based upon the limited information Congress has received on this directive, it seems the decision was not based on sound science or good land management policies," Young said. "Instead, the directive appears to be an attempt to appease the national environmental organizations that want to end traditional multiple-use land policies for working people and communities in the West.

"The President's directive is an unsound policy based upon an unsound premise. It is a sure ticket to allow the destruction of many of these forests by catastrophic fires.

"The notion that our forests are somehow endangered because too few are 'preserved' is absolutely untrue. If the President wanted to do something helpful and beneficial he would announce a plan for cleaning up and thinning the 40 million acres that everyone - including the Administration's own Forest Service - knows are at risk of catastrophic fires.

"I'm very skeptical of the backroom, secret development of this process that will lock up even more of the West. I hope the Administration will be forthcoming and cooperative in our effort to determine how and why this controversial policy was developed."

(For a copy of the letters to Podesta and Glickman, contact Steve Hansen at 202 225-7749.)