Volume 5, No. 1
January 9, 2001

The administration's final roadless area policy, which protects 58.5 million acres of our national forests nearly one-third of our National Forest System from road building, commercial logging, and new oil and gas leasing, was approved by President Clinton on Friday, January 5th.

The president's decision is being hailed as one of the great conservation acts of the last 100 years. However, the incoming Bush administration has promised to subject the new policy to review and may decide to overturn it. Your continued input is needed to keep the new policy in place.

The roadless policy has been strengthened in several respects from the draft released for public comment last year. Your letters and e-mails helped make the difference! Most noteworthy, Alaska's Tongass National Forest accounts for about 9.5 million of the protected acres. Inclusion of the Tongass is due, in part, to the over 1.6 million comments received from the public. Your letters and e-mails helped make the difference!

The new policy is slated to take effect within 60 days. After any current logging contracts have been fulfilled, commercial logging and road building-with only minor exceptions-will no longer be allowed in roadless areas larger than 5,000 acres. Temporary exceptions may be granted on a site-specific basis, for example, if warranted to protect endangered ,species or to reduce the threat of wildfire in high-risk areas. The new policy clarifies that the management emphasis in roadless areas will be the protection of their significant ecological and social values.

Though the roadless policy has been given final approval by the president, it could be overturned through congressional action or new rulemaking by the incoming administration. Indeed, several immediate threats exist. For one, a number of western U.S. senators and other congressional representatives are voicing their intent to invoke the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Act as a way of overturning the president's decision. This act, passed in 1996, is the one piece of Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" that actually became law. The act has never before been used, but it allows 60 days for lawmakers to overturn a presidential order. Representative James Hansen (R-Utah) has promised a "vigorous congressional review" with an eye towards meeting that 60-day deadline. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has also promised to "leave no stone unturned" to get the measure overturned.

Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne, another leading opponent of the roadless policy, intends to take the matter to federal court. He says that the policy is an unwise intrusion into land-use decisions better made at a local level. The timber, mining and energy industries are also expected to file lawsuits.

During his campaign, President-elect George W. Bush clearly aligned himself with these critics of the roadless policy. He said that the policy doesn't pay enough attention to possible impacts to extractive industries in western states. Therefore, even if the new policy is not overturned, there's the possibility that the Bush administration may simply not enforce it, and instead find creative ways to circumvent it.

At this time, it is extremely important that your Representatives in Congress hear from you. While Americans overwhelmingly support the protection of national forest roadless lands, such popular support may not matter, short of an outpouring of letters to members of Congress. Letters to your U.S. Senators and your Representative during the next 60 days are critically important to show that Americans want our remaining undeveloped forests protected. So please get out pen and paper, or put your computer keyboard to work, and write a letter today!

If you have the time, please send three letters, one each to your two U.S. Senators and one to your Representative in the House. We recommend that you send handwritten or typewritten letters in the mail. Usually, letters in the mail have more impact than letters sent by e-mail.

To find out the names of your U.S. Senators and/or to contact your Senators by email, here's a web site that lists all U.S. Senators by state and includes email addresses and other useful contact information: www.senate.gov/contacting/index_by_state.htm

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The Honorable __________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator ___________,

I urge you to support the new roadless policy that protects 58.5 million acres of national forest lands across 39 states from further road building and commercial logging activities. Much of our national forests have been roaded and logged in recent decades. So much so that the primary value of our remaining undeveloped forest lands is as habitat for fish and wildlife, as sources of clean water, and as places of recreational opportunity, solitude, and spiritual renewal. Do not be fooled into thinking that the lands now protected under the roadless policy must be opened to commercial exploitation. Only a tiny fraction of our nation's potential supply of timber, energy, and minerals is found in roadless areas. Instead, please work to conserve for all Americans the outstanding natural heritage of our nation's roadless forests. Thank you!

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
YOUR MAILING ADDRESS

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To write to your Representative in the House, you may use the same letter as above, although you must use a slightly different mailing address, shown below. To find out your Representative's name or to contact him/her by email, here's a web site that lists all Representatives in the new Congress, and even allows you to contact your Representative directly by email: www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

The mailing address for members of the House of Representatives is:

The Honorable ____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

For additional information about the new roadless policy, you can visit the U.S. Forest Service's web site at: roadless.fs.fed.us

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Thank you very much!

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