Participate in Process to Protect U.S. Roadless Areas

ACTION ALERT

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

10/15/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Following is information about how you can participate in the

roadless area process recently announced by President Clinton. It is

important that the conservation movement seizes this moment and

emphasizes the importance of protecting large areas of forests in a

roadless condition. The American Lands organization provides contact

information for voicing your opinions in this important process. The

second item details a recent study that identifies the inadequacy of

land protection in the United States. The America forest directory

on Gaia's Forest Conservation Archives and Portal

( http://forests.org/forests/america.html ) has been updated with in

depth coverage of this recent important announcement.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: President Announces Process to Protect 40-60 Million Acres

of Roadless National Forest

Source: Steve Holmer

Campaign Coordinator

American Lands

726 7th Street SE

Washington, D.C. 20003

202/547-9105

202/547-9213 fax

wafcdc@americanlands.org

www.americanlands.org

Date: October 14, 1999

Yesterday, President Clinton directed the Forest Service to initiate

a formal rule making process to protect remaining National Forest

roadless areas. "Today, we launch one of the largest land

preservation efforts in America's history to protect these priceless,

back-country lands," said the President. At stake are 60 million

acres of wildlands that continue to be threatened by logging,

grazing, mining and off road vehicles.

The Administration is considering a range of protection options. The

weakest proposed option will protect 40 million acres of inventoried

roadless areas 5,000 acres or larger from roadbuilding but exclude

the Tongass National Forest. The strongest option will protect all

60 million acres from logging and roadbuilding including the Tongass

and provide management direction to limit other destructive

activities such as grazing and off-road vehicles.

A number of critical concerns remain unaddressed and have been left

to the two- part public rule making process for resolution. If

adopted, part one of the new rule would immediately restrict certain

activities such as road construction and perhaps commercial logging

in inventoried roadless areas. Part two would establish national

direction for managing inventoried roadless areas, and for

determining whether and to what extent similar protections should be

extended to uninventoried roadless areas.

The questions that remain unanswered are: 1) will Alaska's Tongass

National Forest be excluded from protection or included only under

Part Two; 2) will commercial logging be prohibited in addition to

roadbuilding; 3) will uninventoried areas and roadless areas smaller

than 5,000 acres be protected under Part Two; and 4) will other

destructive activities such as grazing, mining and off road vehicle

use be restricted under Part Two?

The Notice of Intent about the rule making process will be published

in the Federal Register tomorrow followed by a sixty day public

comment period. This provides us an opportunity to hammer home on

the points that: 1) all National Forests, including the Tongass

should be protected; 2) logging, grazing, mining and off- road

vehicles should be prohibited in addition to roadbuilding and 3)

uninventoried and smaller roadless areas 1,000 acres and larger

should be protected. Whether the final plan partially protects 40

million acres or fully protects all 60 million acres is going to be

up to us and our ability to mobilize the public.

Comments can be submitted to: USDA Forest Service-CAET, Attn:

Roadless Areas NOI, PO Box 221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122 or

mailto:roadlessareasnoi/wo_caet@fs.fed.gov

ITEM #2

Title: ROADLESS Forests May Prevent Extinctions

Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/

Date: October 13, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC, October 13, 1999 (ENS) - President Bill Clinton is

expected to reveal his new plan to protect roadless areas in U.S.

National Forests today. A new study from the World Wildlife Fund

(WWF) and the Conservation Biology Institute timed to the

announcement finds that levels of forest protection across the

United States are "far too low" to maintain many animal and plant

species that are at risk of extinction.

The nation's first comprehensive assessment of protected areas found

that the U.S. has set aside only five percent of its land in strict

protection such as national parks, wilderness, and monuments. Another

five percent is protected as wildlife refuges and state parks, which

allow logging and mining.

A key finding of the study is that the few remaining national forest

areas without roads are essential to ensuring animal and plant

survival. Using some of the most sophisticated mapping technology

available, WWF and CBI scientists looked at outstanding forests such

as the Klamath-Siskiyou forests of California and Oregon and the

Southern Appalachians. They found that these regions contain large

tracts of unprotected roadless areas that are threatened by road

building and resource extraction.

Overall, the study found that forest protection across the nation

varies widely from state to state. Most states east of the

Mississippi River have protected less than one percent of their land

area. The western United States have higher concentrations of

protected areas, such as Alaska with 35 percent and California with 9

percent. But in these states most protected areas are high elevation

rock and ice.

Nationwide, most protected areas average less than 10,000 acres --

too small to maintain wildlife populations from the impacts of

logging, mining, and encroaching development, the study says.

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