Clinton Administration Releases Plan for Roadless Areas

By Traci Robinson, Web Coordinator
(301) 897-8720, ext. 155; Fax: (301) 897-3690; e-mail: robinsot@safnet.org

On May 9, USDA Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck unveiled a draft proposal—officially know as a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)—that will ban road construction on 43 million acres of national forests (Greenwire, 5/10).

While the "preferred alternative" described in the plan does not directly ban logging, mining and off road vehicle use in these areas, it does give local forest officials the authority to do so, if deemed appropriate. Even if logging is not banned on the local level, Forest Service officials expect the added cost and difficulty of logging in these roadless areas will reduce scheduled logging by 73 percent. The Forest Service adds that "the proposal would cost 250 jobs, but save $500,000 a year in road maintenance" (USA Today, 5/10).

US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman defended the plan stating, "It doesn't make sense to build any more roads into the sensitive areas when we cannot keep up with the maintenance of the roads we already have" (Reuters, 5/10).

Under the proposal, Alaska's Tongass National Forest—the largest national forest comprised of 16 million acres—is exempt from the roadless ban until 2004. Environmentalists are stunned. They had hoped that a "massive" letter-writing campaign over the last several months would persuade the Forest Service to include the Tongass National Forest in the ban (Anchorage Daily News, 5/10).

The Forest Service defended the decision stating that "a prohibition on logging in unroaded areas in the Tongass would have further crippled a timber industry still reeling from huge reductions in logging compelled by a management plan finalized last year.... A ban on new roads would have effectively closed off roughly two-thirds of the areas planned for logging over the next five years" (Anchorage Daily News, 5/10).

According to Matt Zencey, director of the Alaska Rainforest Campaign, "It's a huge disappointment.... Fifty percent of all roadless area logging would be in the Tongass under the current proposals. Eighty-one percent of all new roads in roadless areas would be built in the Tongass. It's the one forest that really needs to be protected" (Anchorage Daily News, 5/10)(Washington Post, 5/10).

Timber officials are equally as critical of the plan. According to W. Henson Moore, president and CEO of the American Forest and Paper Association, whose organization represents more than 250 companies and related associations in the pulp, paper, paperboard and wood products industries, "It's ironic that an age defined by science should witness a government's willingness to ignore it. According to the Forest Service, the National Forest System is experiencing the worst health crisis in its history with 65 million acres...at catastrophic risk to wildfire, insect infestation and disease. Yet rather than embracing a scientific approach to manage those lands, the Forest Service has issued a DEIS which would wall-off more than sixty million acres" (Environmental News Service, 5/9).

During the 60-day comment period, the Agriculture Department plans to hold more than 300 public meetings across the country. Each national forest is expected to host two types of meetings. Beginning in late May, information meetings will be held to give the public an opportunity to review the plan and ask questions. Public comment forums will follow in late June giving the public an opportunity to comment on the plan. A complete schedule of the meetings is available at http://roadless.fs.fed.us/ (Environmental News Service, 5/9).

Written comments can be submitted at the public meetings, at http://roadless.fs.fed.us/, or by fax or mail at the following address:

USDA Forest Service-CAET
Attention: Roadless Area Proposed Rule
PO Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
Fax: (877) 703-2494

All comments must be received by July 17, 2000 (Environmental News Service, 5/9).

 

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