Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
July 10, 2000, Monday, Home Edition
SECTION: Editorial; Pg. 6A
LENGTH: 632 words
HEADLINE:
Protect national forests from future road-building
BYLINE: Staff
SOURCE:
CONSTITUTION
BODY:
You may be able to get away from
traffic in the Chattahoochee National Forest, but you can't get far away from
roads. On three-fourths of the forest's 749,454 acres, no matter where you hike,
fish, camp or birdwatch, you're within a half-mile of a road.
It hasn't
always been like that. Twenty years ago, a third of the Chattahoochee was
protected from road-building. Today only 15 percent of it is set aside as
wilderness, and only 63,000 acres of possible roadless areas
remain. We've lost 79,000 roadless acres in the past two decades. For example,
the beautiful, 36,000-acre Tray Mountain area near Lake Burton offered quiet and
solitude in 1980. Today, only half of that area is still free of roads.
In response to such declines here in Georgia and elsewhere around the
nation, President Clinton has proposed a permanent ban on additional road-
building in much of the country's national forests. At recent public hearings on
the proposal here in Georgia, a majority of those testifying endorsed that
freeze on road-building in roadless areas. At a meeting in Gainesville attended
by 200 people, for example, 60 of the 80 local speakers pleaded for an end to
further road-building.
Contrary to claims by its opponents, the
president's proposal won't close any existing forest roads. Nor does the
president's plan halt timber cutting in roadless areas, many of which actually
contain old logging roads. It only prohibits building any new roads in those
areas, which now account for less than 8 percent of the Chattahoochee forest's
land base.
Nonetheless, the timber industry, along with organizations
such as the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, and
the Ruffed Grouse Society, a small, vocal group of hunters, claim that the
president is trying to ram something down the public's throat. Recent public
opinion polls prove them dead wrong. People of all political persuasions and
interests agree with the road-building freeze. Earlier this year, American
Viewpoint, a Republican polling firm, found that registered Republicans support
more protection for roadless areas by a 2-to-1 margin. Polling by the Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Alliance showed that 80 percent of hunters and anglers
favor greater roadless protection.
Despite that support, GOP
presidential candidate George W. Bush has promised timber interests to undo the
Clinton forest plan. That would be a mistake. This is not merely a matter of
preserving areas where people can still find peace and solitude in a hectic
world, although that in itself would be enough to justify the policy.
Dozens of scientific studies confirm that road-building is the single-
biggest contributor to pollution of the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries,
a river system that provides drinking water for more than half of Georgia
residents.
The Journal of Conservation Biology devoted an entire issue
recently to studies showing that road-building harms the headwaters of rivers
that supply drinking water and devastates the habitat required by some species
of migratory songbirds.
An estimated 9,500 miles of roads already
dissect the southern Appalachian forests, nearly double the miles of interstate
highway in the six-state region. That extensive network provides more than
adequate access to the treasures of our national forests; any further road
construction would endanger the treasures themselves.
PUBLIC COMMENT
The deadline is July 17 for public comment on a proposed ban on roadbuilding
in national forest roadless areas. Comments can be e-mailed to the U.S. Forest
Service at roadlessdeis@fs.fed.us, faxed toll-free to 1-877- 703-2494 or mailed
to P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122. Comments should be marked USDA
Forest Service-CAET/Attn: Roadless.
GRAPHIC: Photo
Logging roads have now encroached on Moccasin Creek, a popular hiking area
in northeast Georgia which features spectacular waterfalls. President Clinton
has proposed a ban on road-building in remaining roadless areas to protect water
sources, wildlife habitat and migratory birds./ KATHRYN KOLB / Special
LOAD-DATE: July 10, 2000 
