Date: 2005-05-11
To: Thanks BUSH
Miles today: 0.0

Sad. Bush OKs opening forestsBy Charles SeabrookThe Atlanta Journal - Constitution May 6, 2005The Bush administration, in one of its most controversial environmental decisions, on Thursday put in place a new rule that will allow the building of roads in many of the most remote, pristine areas of the country's national forests --- and open them to logging and mining. The rule, which becomes effective next week, overturns a regulation introduced in the waning days of President Bill Clinton's administration to protect 58.5 million acres of so-called "roadless areas" --- huge tracts of national forests that have been accorded extra protection for their special ecological significance, such as harboring headwaters of streams. Governors will be able, if they wish, to petition the federal government during the next 18 months to leave roadless areas untouched in their states. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has not said what approach he would take. In Georgia, the rule will affect 63,000 acres of the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest in the northern part of the state. One such tract is the 8,350-acre Kelly Ridge roadless area straddling the Appalachian Trail near the mountain town of Helen, about 120 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. A high, wild and rugged area, it is adjacent to the 9,700-acre Tray Mountain Wilderness Area and harbors one of Georgia's largest old-growth forests.Officials with the Department of Agriculture, which encompasses the U.S. Forest Service, said the rule was intended, in part, to protect national forests and adjacent private property from wildfires by providing access into the forests to fight the blazes. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who announced the rule on Thursday, said the administration was committed "to protecting and restoring the health and beauty of our national forests."Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Ray said the new regulation also was intended to help avoid the litigation that has plagued the agency over the Clinton-era rule. The governors of Alaska, Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota have fought the rule, saying it was a last-minute maneuver to place nearly 60 million acres of America's 191 million acres of national forests off-limits to any commercial activity.A U.S. District Court in Wyoming overturned the Clinton rule in 2003. But environmentalists appealed the decision before the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which heard arguments Wednesday.It is not clear what will happen to the new rule should the appeals court rule in favor of the environmental groups.The groups said the new rule jeopardizes the natural integrity of the nation's remaining unspoiled public lands. "The administration's decision . . . shows blatant disregard for the concerns of the public," said William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society. Robert Vandermark, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, said that "millions of acres of our last wild forests are now immediately at risk. . . . National forests deserve national protection, and should not be subject to the whims of local politics and federal political cronies."But U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) said the rule would bring about better management of national forests. It will move the management away "from the political bickering in Washington and closer to the people that live, work and recreate on and near these lands," he said.