White House moves to open forest lands to road building

Clinton had acted to protect acreage from development

May 06, 2005|Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, in one of its biggest decisions on environmental issues, moved yesterday to open nearly a third of all remote national forest lands to road building, logging, and other commercial ventures.

The 58.5 million acres involved, mainly in Alaska and in Western states, had been put off-limits to development by former President Clinton, eight days before he left office in January 2001.

Under existing local forest management plans, some 34.3 million acres of these pristine woodlands could be opened to road construction. That would be the first step in allowing logging, mining, and other industry and wider recreational uses of the land. Under proposed rules, new management plans have to be written for the other 24.2 million acres before road building can commence. Governors have 18 months to submit petitions to the US Forest Service, challenging either the previous plan to stop development, or calling for new plans to allow it.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said that his agency ''is committed to working closely with the nation's governors to meet the needs of our local communities while protecting and restoring the health and natural beauty of our national forests." The Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, said governors can base petitions on requests to protect public health and safety; reduce wildfire risks to communities; conserve wildlife habitat; maintain dams, utilities, or other infrastructure; or ensure that citizens have access to private property.

The Forest Service, which will review and have final say over the petitions, calls the new process voluntary and is setting up a national advisory committee on the rule. ''If a governor does not want to propose changes . . . then no petition need be submitted," the agency says in briefing documents obtained by the Associated Press.

Roadless areas in national forests stretch among 38 states and Puerto Rico. But 97 percent, or 56.6 million acres, are found in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Environmentalists say the new rule also would let the administration rewrite the forest management plans to lift restrictions against development on most of that forest land.

''Yesterday, nearly 60 million acres of national forests were protected, and today as a result of deliberate action by the administration they are not," said Robert Vandermark, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, run by a coalition of environment groups. ''The Bush administration plan is a 'leave no tree behind' policy that paves the way for increased logging, drilling, and mining in some of our last wild areas."

The Clinton-era rule has been much debated in federal court.