Website to Comment on U.S. Roadless Protection Proposal

ACTION ALERT

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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Internet Content

12/4/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

The process to determine the details of the United States' proposal

to protect a significant amount of remaining National Forest roadless

areas is in the backstretch. There are substantial grounds for

cynicism regarding the intent, and eventual effectiveness, of the

proposal. Nonetheless, the time is now to voice unequivocally that

ecosystem and biodiversity health require strict preservation of

large forest expanses. If we shrug this off as a political game, we

may never have another chance to lobby for including the Tongass

forest in the areas to be protected, and to insist upon strict

management of the preserved areas. Rest assured that the "wise use"

and timber industry are lobbying for all they are worth. If our

cynicism stops us from taking a few moments to highlight the

ecological necessity of large forest expanses, we will have missed a

major, and perhaps last, opportunity to make large forest

wildernesses part of the enduring American legacy. Following is

information on how to submit comments through a new website at

< http://roadless.fs.fed.us >. Additional suggestions on comments

and demands to make are at < http://forests.org/recent/roadlcom.txt >

and < http://forests.org/recent/rdcomnee.txt > . Do so now please.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: USFS Posts Roadless Website

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

Date: December 2, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC, December 2, 1999 (ENS) - The U.S. Forest Service has

launched a national website for information updates about developing

a proposed rule for roadless areas in the National Forest System.

The site features answers to questions about President Bill Clinton's

Roadless Initiative to leave untouched roughly 50 million acres of

inventoried roadless areas on national forests.

The new website offers an opportunity to comment on two proposals

being considered by the Forest Service.

"We hope to give every interested person an opportunity to comment,"

said Jim Furnish, Forest Service Deputy Chief for the National Forest

System. "To do that, we have asked leadership of every national

forest in he country to hold public scoping meetings for local

residents in addition to our 10 national listening sessions."

Six national meetings on the roadless issue have been held across the

country. Four more will be held between now and December 9.

The Forest Service has been working on two proposals. The first

involves the development of a policy for managing its road system.

The second is a proposed rule for dealing with the 50 million acres

of roadless areas.

Roadless area protection calls for the restriction of activities like

road construction. Roughly 45 percent of these areas are already in

management designations that do not allow for road construction.

The Forest Service must also establish procedures and criteria to be

used by each forest to determine what activities are consistent with

the important values associated with roadless areas of all sizes,

inventoried or not, that maintain or enhance social or ecological

attributes.

President Clinton directed the Forest Service on October 13 to

initiate the proposed rulemaking. The Forest Service responded with a

Notice of Intent to prepare the proposed rule and draft environmental

impact statement in the Federal Register on October 19.

Public scoping and other public involvement will help to shape the

ultimate structure and format of the agency's final rule. For more

information, visit the new website at: < http://roadless.fs.fed.us >.

After the comment period ends on December 20, 1999, the Forest

Service will begin writing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement

and the proposed rule. The Forest Service plans to release the

document early next year and again seek public involvement in the

process before making a final decision.

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