Charred Roadless Forests Don’t Lie
Chris Horgan of Stewards of the Sequoia [here] sent the following clipping from the Seattle Post-It [here].
The clipping is a Letter-to-the-Editor written by Chris West of the American Forest Resource Council [here].
Mike Dombeck’s guest column on the Roadless Rule ignores reality (”Fight over Roadless Area rule in national forests is purposeless,” [here]).
First, a little history — several western governors asked the Clinton administration to be formal partners in the development of a Roadless Rule as provided for under NEPA — they were denied. Then when the states and public were asked to comment on the proposal, there were no detailed maps on which to make informed assessments. Just think of the all negative editorials had a president proposed a rule involving just a million acres of timber, grazing or mining use without providing detailed maps.
After years, not days, the Bush administration offered a new roadless protection plan where governors could petition the Secretary of Agriculture to protect those truly unique roadless areas within their borders — a process allowing for meaningful public involvement and informed decision making. This was an attempt to find a solution to conflicting court rulings, but this too was challenged in the courts. Thankfully several governors have taken advantage of this new process, drawing lines on maps and getting roadless areas protected in their states.
So where are these catastrophic and budget busting wildfires occurring? They are overwhelmingly in national forests where more than 60 percent of the land is either roadless or wilderness. Both in number of large fires and acres burned. Not only are these unnatural events costing taxes payers billions, but they are destroying critical wildlife habitat, key watersheds, threatening communities and releasing green house gasses. Just look at the devastating fires over the past seven years in Washington and Oregon — blackened and charred roadless forests don’t lie. Some may want to put the blame on the changing climate, but adjacent state and private forests have very different results when these wildfires cross the property boundary.
So, while President Clinton and Chief Dombeck had hoped their legacy was going to be nearly 60 million acres of preserved roadless areas, the reality is a devastated landscape, polluted air, silted streams and not enough money to fulfill the Forest Service’s mission of “Caring for the land and serving the people.”
Chris West — American Forest Resource Council, Portland OR
Thank you Chris and Chris.
Added bonus: for an excellent slide show, see Save Our Forest from the Stewards of the Sequioa [here]
