EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Ten, Number Five
July/August 2001

CALL TO ACTION:

Restore Protection of Roadless Areas on Federal Lands

In May the Bush Administration and the Forest Service under the leadership of chief Dale Bosworth:

  1. called for increased logging in the national forests;
  2. asked Congress to weaken the public involvement requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as it applies to timber sales;
  3. asked Congress to weaken the consultation requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as it applies to timber sales;
  4. proposed an amendment to the roadless area conservation rule to strip all protection from millions of acres of roadless areas that industry wants to log and to drill for oil and gas, leaving the Tongass National Forest and the Front Range of the Rockies at particular risk;
  5. failed to defend adequately the roadless plan in court, which led to its being overturned, leaving roadless areas without any protection for the time being. The May 10th ruling by US District Judge Edward J. Lodge to halt implementation of the US Roadless Policy marks an extraordinary victory by Boise Cascade over forest protection efforts and the American public, which has supported the protection of roadless areas in our national forests. Boise Cascade, acting as the lead plaintiff and the primary logging industry opponent to the roadless policy, was the first to file suit along with the State of Idaho to defeat the measure in federal court in January.

Now conservation activists are fighting back. A coalition of conservation groups is appealing the Idaho court decision, to have the roadless area protection rule reinstated. Activists are asking Congress to cut off all funds for logging and roadbuilding in roadless areas.

And they are calling for an end to all commercial logging on federal lands by supporting HR 1494, the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act , introduced by Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney, which now has 97 cosponsors in the House.

Contrary to the idea that banning logging in roadless areas "puts in jeopardy the health of our forests," argued by some congresspersons and senators, HR 1494 aims to "save taxpayers money, reduce the deficit, cut corporate welfare, protect communities from wildfires, and protect and restore America's natural heritage by eliminating the fiscally wasteful and ecologically destructive commercial logging program on Federal public lands, restoring native biodiversity in our Federal public forests, and facilitating the economic recovery and diversification of communities affected by the Federal logging program."

Now is the time to look up HR 1494, to understand what it says, to ask your congresspersons if they are supporting the ban on logging in roadless areas, and if so, to suggest that they co-sponsor HR 1494.

From www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/old_growth/boise_action.html and from American Lands, www.americanlands.org ; and from Thomas - US Congress on the Internet.

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