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On April 9, the Bush Administration ignored the millions of Americans demanding protections for our national forests, and appealed a court ruling reinstating the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that the Bush administration had overturned. More Americans supported the 2001 Roadless Rule than any other federal rule in history. Nearly 2 million acres of Oregon’s forests are at stake if the policy is overturned.
Brief Summary
Oregon's wild forests are vital to our quality of life. The pristine streams that flow through these pristine areas provide clean drinking water for thousands of Oregonians and critical habitat for steelhead and salmon. Oregonians and visitors find endless opportunities for recreation and solitude along the trails and rivers winding through these forestlands, spurring vital tourism and recreation businesses.
One might think that the nation's publicly owned forests are already protected. However, across the country, logging, mining, road-building and other development activities have destroyed more than half of our national forests to such an extent that they no longer qualify as wilderness. There are approximately 400,000 miles of roads crisscrossing our national forests - enough to circle the planet 16 times - to help logging companies gain access to even more remote areas of our national forests. Road-building and logging cause erosion and fragment critical wildlife habitat.
Six years ago, Environment Oregon and other citizen organizations across the nation played a critical role in helping to win a rule that set aside many of the last wild areas in our national forests – 58.5 million acres, including nearly 2 million acres in Oregon – from most logging and road-building. Known as the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, this historic policy was finalized in January 2001 after decades of scientific study, 600 public hearings, and a record 1.6 million comments in support of the rule.
In May, 2005, the Bush administration repealed these landmark forest protections despite millions more Americans calling on them to uphold, not repeal, the roadless rule. Counted all together, the administration has received 4 million comments supporting the rule.
The repeal puts 1.9 million acres of Oregon's national forests at risk. Well-known places in Oregon that were protected under the rule but are now at risk include Larch Mountain and the headwaters of Multnomah Falls, Lost Lake Butte and Roaring River in the Mt. Hood National Forest, Moose Creek and Hardesty Mountain in the Willamette National Forest, the Metolius River basin in the Deschutes National Forest and the Copper Salmon area in the Siskiyou National Forest.
Governor Kulongoski has joined Oregonians urging the Bush administration to restore the protections. He led the state of Oregon and a coalition of conservation organizations suing the Bush administration for violating federal requirement to study the environmental impact before repealing forest protections. He also prepared an extensive state petition to restore the protections for national forests in Oregon. In the fall of 2006, a federal judge ruled in favor of the national forests, agreeing that the Bush administration violated federal environmental laws in overturning the Roadless Rule. Unfortunately on April 9, the administration appealed the decision so Oregonians are still waiting to find out the fate of our nearly 2 million acres of national forests.
