H.R. 488, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act
I believe our national forests are treasures which must be protected. For this reason, on February 2, 1999 I joined my colleague Carolyn Maloney of New York in introducing H.R. 488, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.
This legislation would increase protection of approximately 20 million acres of public land in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.
The bill includes five types of land protection: (1) new protection for roaded national forest land, (2) new protection for unroaded national forest land, (3) new Wilderness Area designations, (4) new National Park Study Areas, and (5) Wildland Recovery Area.
Click here for a map of NREPA.
A University of Utah economist and the Chairman of the University of Montana's Economics Department both studied the economic impacts of NREPA and found it:
- provides a net savings to the U.S. Treasury of $100 million over the first ten years of the bill by prohibiting deficit roadbuilding and timber sale programs in sensitive roadless areas.
- creates over 2,300 jobs restoring damaged ecosystems--jobs that protect watersheds, promote flood protection, and restore wildlife and fish habitat.
- protects the economic base of the Northern Rockies region: wildlife, fish, clean water, recreation, jobs, wood products and natural beauty.
- institutes a management plan that is both economically and ecologically sustainable, providing the region with long-term stability vital to intelligent economic planning.
Status of H.R. 488
The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act has been referred to the House Resources Subcommittees on National Parks and Public Lands, and Forests and Forest Health.