While the Clinton plan is not perfect, it represents a significant advancement from past practices. This nation has built about 380,000 miles of roads in national forests, or eight times the length of the interstate highway system. The road construction itself has been damaging to the forest, as has the logging it facilitated. Worse yet, the USFS does not have the funding to adequately maintain the roads it built, often creating problems with erosion. Timber interests and their allies in Congress like to argue that leaving forests in their natural state makes them unduly vulnerable to wildfire and disease.
Scientific studies suggest otherwise.
He points out that logging operations typically add to the flammable debris in a forest, and the intrusion of motor vehicles into a forest only increases the fire danger. The areas proposed for protection under Clinton's plan covers 4.3 million acres across 18 national forests in California, including timberland around the Trinity Alps, Marble Mountain, the North Fork of the American River and the San Joaquin Roadless Area in Inyo National Forest. The USFS is planning about 300 meetings nationally over the next two months to collect public comments on this draft proposal, which could be amended before it becomes final in December, the last full month of Clinton's final term. The issue may also flare up in the presidential campaign, since Vice President Al Gore has been considerably more supportive of roadless-area protection than Texas Gov. George W. Bush. With a little prodding from the American people, it can and should be broadened to encompass the Tongass National Forest, making it a truly comprehensive policy.