As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
Portland – Sportsmen,
citizens, religious leaders, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists, joined
forces today to launch a drive to collect comments from one million Americans
opposing the Bush administration’s proposal to repeal protections for 58.5
million acres of pristine national forests.
“In addition to ingnoring
the 2.5 million public comments sent to the Forest Service in support of the
roadless rule, this Administration is passing the buck to state governors in
order to veto roadless protection,” said Congressman David Wu, “Such
disregard for the long term health of our forests is intolerable.”
Today’s event was one
of several throughout the country calling on the Bush administration to abandon
its proposal and keep the nation’s last remaining wild places pristine.
Areas protected by the roadless rule provide clean drinking water to more than
60 million people, habitat for 1600 endangered species, and extensive opportunities
for hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting.
“I’ve fished the
streams in Oregon’s roadless forests for years, and now the Bush administration
wants to allow roads, logging and other development in places like Roaring River,
Salmon River Meadows, North Fork John Day and Copper Salmon,” said Tom
Wolf, Chair of the Oregon Council of Trout Unlimited, speaking in front of a
large banner that read “President Bush: Fishing Yes, Stumps No.”
The Bush administration
announced its proposal to repeal these protections on July 12, despite several
previous pledges to uphold them. In May 2001, Secretary of Agriculture, Ann
Veneman, promised to uphold the Roadless Rule.
“In defiance of the
wishes of the American people, the Bush administration has broken its promise
and proposed to completely repeal protections for some of America’s most
prized and threatened national forests,” said OSPIRG Field Director Laura
Etherton, “Clearly the Bush administration is out of touch with the public,
so we have set an ambitious goal of sending them one million comments so there
is no confusion about what the public wants.”
In Oregon, the roadless
rule protects nearly 2 million acres of pristine areas in national forests,
such as Twin Lakes roadless area in the Mt. Hood National Forest, Hardesty Mountain
in the Willamette National Forest and the North and South Kalmiopsis in the
Siskiyou National Forest.
“The Roadless Area
Conservation Rule has strong support from the faith community as an expression
of our responsibility to care for all of God’s creations. Ecumenical Ministries
of Oregon’s Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns urges all people of conscience
to participate in the comment period make sure conservation values are high
priority in our nation’s forest policy and management,” said Jenny
Holmes of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.
In its announcement of its
proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule, the Bush administration announced that
it would force state governors to petition the Forest Service if they wanted
to maintain protection for any roadless areas in their states – a process
that provides no guarantees for protection of roadless areas.
Rolf Skar of the Siskiyou
Project expressed concern about the impacts of the repeal of the forest protections
in Southern Oregon, “This will hurt the clean water, clean air and unparalleled
recreational opportunities that our national forests provide. The Siskiyou Wild
Rivers area will suffer if the Bush administration repeals these protections.”
The original roadless rule
was developed after years of scientific study and 600 local public hearings,
and 1.6 million public comments, including 60,000 from Oregon. The coalition
called on Oregonians to get involved again to save the protections wild forests.
“Anyway you cut it,
the Bush administration’s plan leaves pristine forests more vulnerable,”
said, Jay Ward, Conservation Director of Oregon Natural Resources Council, “We
encourage Oregonians to send public comments to the administration to keep roadless
protections intact.”
The public comment period
officially began last week and continues through September 14, 2004.
