WAFC Forest Focus: End Road Building and Protect Roadless Areas
11/18/97
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Headline: WAFC Forest Focus: End Road Building and Protect Roadless Areas
Source: Western Ancient Forest Campaign
Date: 11/18/97
FOREST FOCUS, the bulletin of the Western Ancient Forest
Campaign, November 18, 1997 To reach us call (202)879-3188, fax
(202)879-3189, or email WAFCDC@igc.apc.org
END ROAD BUILDING AND...: After signing the FY98 Interior
Appropriations bill last Friday, President Clinton stated that though
Congress failed to end road purchaser credits for next year he would
propose in his FY99 budget request that they be eliminated. "Many in
the Congress have acknowledged the adverse environmental impact that
decades of timber road building have caused to our land and water,"
the President said.
...PROTECT ROADLESS AREAS: In the same statement President
Clinton said that the Forest Service is developing a "scientifically based
policy for managing roadless areas." Clinton declared, "These last
remaining wild areas are precious to millions of Americans and key to
protecting clean water and abundant wildlife habitat, and providing
recreation opportunities. These unspoiled places must be managed
through science, not politics."
THE SURVEY SAYS!: The Rockefeller Technology Project reports
that for the sixth year a clear majority of Americans said protecting the
environment and a strong economy "can go hand-in-hand." When
asked to choose whether the environment or the economy should be
given priority if no compromise were possible, 69% said they would
choose environmental protection and 15% said they'd choose economic
development. An overwhelming 95% said they would like to have
environmental education taught in schools.
THE LONG DRAW OF THE USFS: The Long Draw timber sale on
the Okanogan National Forest is proving to be a contentious issue, not
only for federal officials but also for Washington State Gov. Gary
Locke reports a Nov. 13 the Seattle Times article. "We received a big
outpouring of opposition (to the sale)," said Carol Jolly, an assistant to
the governor. Jolly had previously sent a letter to Regional Forester
Bob Williams asking him to "seriously weigh the high costs associated
with offering the sale at all and reassess its merits before making a
decision about proceeding." The sale, which proposes to log 8.7 mmbf
from a pristine roadless area that is home to the state's largest
population of lynx, was appealed by several northwest conservation
organizations.
"LET'S SAVE WHAT'S LEFT": In a lengthy Nov. 9 editorial the
Des Moines Register lauds Iowa Rep. Jim Leach for co-sponsoring the
"National Forest Protection and Restoration Act" with Georgia
Democrat Cynthia McKinney. The editorial enumerates several reasons
for supporting the bill but Leach admits that it could take ten years to
get passed. "In a logic-driven Congress," the editorial summarizes, "it
wouldn't wait that long."
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
Western Ancient Forest Campaign
1025 Vermont Ave. NW 3rd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
202/879-3188
202/879-3189 fax
wafcdc@igc.org