By VIVIENNE JANNATPOUR
Colorado Daily Staff
January 12, 2003
On December 23, the Bush administration exempted Alaska's Tongass National Forest from protection under the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, potentially opening up 9.5 million acres in the nation's largest national forest to road-building and logging projects.
Environmental groups say this is a flagrant dismissal of unprecedented public support for protecting the Tongass under the roadless rule. "There were 250,000 comments received by the Forest Service from around the nation, and less than 2,000 supported the administration's plan to open up the Tongass," said Environment Colorado Field Director Robin Hubbard.
The Bush administration is also scheduled to release a revised roadless rule in the next few weeks giving each governor the right to claim exemptions for their state.
Conservation groups fear Colorado's national forests could be next. "It's possible that the protection of Colorado's roadless forests will be up to Governor Owens and we all know that he hasn't been a great friend to the environment," said Udi Lazimy with the American Lands Alliance in Boulder.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 58.5 million acres of roadless areas in national forests across the nation from road-building and logging.
The decision to exempt the Tongass National Forest was made as a settlement of Alaska's lawsuit against the roadless rule. The suit claims that the rule violates the so-called "no-more" clause in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which prohibits the Forest Service from adopting these kinds of land protection.
"But none of the provisions in the clause directly apply to this rule," said Alaska Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo, "We could have defended the rule in court, but Bush went and settled it out from underneath us."
Dennis Neill, Tongass Public Affairs Officer, said that of the 9.5 million acres that are classified as "inventoried roadless areas," only 300,000 are considered suitable timber area not already protected by the Tongass Land Management Plan.
"This exemption maintains the balance already established in the management plan, providing opportunities for sustainable economic development in Southeast Alaska while ensuring that the vast majority of the Tongass remains off limits to development," he said.
"The problem," Waldo said, "is they can rewrite their plan and make more of the 9.5 million acres susceptible."
Also, the 300,000 acres are scattered all around the forest and contain the oldest, most valuable trees. "It would be like taking the geysers out of Yellowstone," Waldo said, "It's the heart and soul of the place."
Lazimy warns that this may be a sign of things to come. "With the Bush administration poised to log America's largest rainforest, their intentions for America's remaining pristine forests are clear," he said. "As with Colorado's wild forests, these lands are America's treasured natural heritage and they must be protected."
Many conservation groups feel that allowing further exemptions to the rule signals a clear attempt to dismantle it. "This is just another example of how the administration is trying to gut the roadless rule. An exemption here, a loophole there, it all adds up to a lack of commitment to protect roadless areas in our national forests," Hubbard said.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was set in place by the Clinton administration in January 2001, and has since been contested by the timber industry and six states. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the roadless rule against a suit filed by Idaho in December 2002. The Tenth Circuit Court in Denver is currently considering an appeal by environmental groups regarding Wyoming's suit against the Roadless Rule.
The Bush administration has not attempted to defend the roadless rule in either suit, and recently filed a brief contesting the rights of environmental groups to appeal the Wyoming decision. "The government is making a radical move by saying the environmental groups can't appeal," said Denver Earthjustice attorney Jim Angell. "There's no doubt the administration is trying to appease the timber industry."
The state of Colorado has almost 4.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas currently protected by the roadless rule. "We want to make sure that the public is aware of the threats to roadless conservation areas in Colorado," Lazimy said.