Clinton today announced a plan to permanently protect six million acres of Forest Service roadless lands in Montana as part of his effort to protect all national forest roadless lands from environmentally destructive activities. The six million acres of roadless areas in Montana are not empty places. They are an important legacy for all of us who hunt, fish, hike and camp in these wild land areas. It's important to understand, however, that the President has only started a process. It's the final product that counts, so people who care about Montana's public wild lands will need to work hard during the next year to transform good intentions into real policy.
Roads are the greatest source of environmental degradation on the national forest system.
Protection of roadless is directly tied to Montana's wildlife-related income, the state's fourth largest industry, and includes income generated by hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, and wildlife related tourism. Hunting in Montana will be helped by this initiative, as will our state's fourth largest industry. In Montana, about half the national forest lands are fragmented by more than 33,000 miles of forest roads. The Forest Service readily admits that it can afford to maintain only 18 percent of its road system. Forest Service figures show the roadless protection measure will have little effect on timber jobs in Montana.