Roads to Forest Ruination

There’s a difference between modifying an environmental protection and ripping its insides out, but the Bush administration hasn’t picked up on the distinction. For years, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has talked about tweaking a Clinton-era mandate that banned road-building in nearly 60 million of the most untouched acres of national forest. She wanted just enough flexibility to protect public safety and wildlife habitats, she said.

With the roadless rule placed in the hands of Undersecretary Mark E. Rey, a former timber lobbyist, no one expected a forest-friendly proposal to emerge. A year ago, Rey talked about letting governors appeal to open certain forest areas to roads. “We are trying to make available relief in limited circumstances,” Rey said at the time.

By the time Veneman formally proposed the rule Monday, it became clear that “limited circumstances” had been defined as “everywhere” -- unless individual governors petition to protect swaths of forest.

This boils down to the federal government dumping its responsibility to manage federal lands and handing it to states instead. Department of Agriculture officials sing the praises of “locally supported” forest plans, but that just means the support of local logging and mining companies, because conservationists and recreational users oppose the road-building. Lobbyists for timber and mining firms hold more sway at the state level than the federal, especially in sparsely populated states.

The patchwork approach would lead to strange state-to-state contrasts. California is expected to preserve all or most of the roadless areas. Then there’s Idaho, where Gov. Dirk Kempthorne made clear Monday that he could hardly wait to propose areas for road-building.

The rule goes through a 60-day public-comment period, likely to make little difference because the Bush administration has ignored the fact that there was extraordinary public support for the Clinton roadless rule before it was originally adopted.

As a final insult, the public gets to pick up the tab for damaging its own forests, since the roads are federally funded. Never mind that the forests have been too poorly funded to keep up visitor services, police off-road vehicles or maintain the existing, decaying roads. The money issue, though, gives Congress a weapon for defanging the new proposal, much as it did last month when the Bush administration opened 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to bulldozers. Congress simply refused to allow any money to be spent for the roads. That’s one budget cut we can all like.

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To Take Action: Comments may be mailed during the next 60 days to Content Analysis Team, ATTN: Roadless State Petitions, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122, or e-mailed to: statepetitionroadless@fs.fed.gov.