Parks, Open Spaces, Wild Places Reports
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Executive Summary
After decades of scientific inquiry, 600 public hearings,
and a record 1.6 million comments from the American public, the Clinton administration
issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in January 2001.
The Roadless Rule, as it is commonly known, originally
protected 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land from most commercial logging
and road-building, and associated mining and drilling. Since then, the Bush
administration has removed these protections from 9.5 million acres of roadless
areas in the Tongass
National Forest.
For the remaining 49 million acres of America’s last
wild national forests, the 2001 Roadless Rule ensures that they will continue to
provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans, wildlife habitat,
endless recreational opportunities, and other important values. The rule also
compels the U.S. Forest Service to address the estimated $10.3 billion backlog
in needed maintenance for existing roads, instead of using taxpayer dollars to build
new roads.
The American people have spoken in favor of protecting
roadless areas within our national forests. Since2000, Michigan residents have submitted 65,966
comments, with the overwhelming majority of them in favor of protecting the
state’s 16,000 acres of roadless forests.
The strong public support for protecting roadless areas can
be understood by looking at their economic and ecological values: Sixty million
Americans rely on drinking water from national forests. Roadless areas, because
of their pristine condition, provide some of the purest sources of these
essential water supplies. In the Eastern Forest Service Region, which includes Michigan, drinking water
is worth $252.8 million annually.
Recreation in national forests has become more and more
popular over time as Americans participate in activities from bicycling and
hiking to fishing and hunting. In
2006, 3.7 million Michigan
residents took part in hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching; that same year,
wildlife-related recreation contributed $4.1 billion to the state economy.
Some of the most unspoiled habitat for threatened,
endangered, and declining
species is found in roadless areas. Michigan’s
national forests are home to 10 at-risk species that could be harmed by destruction
of roadless areas.
Despite the many benefits national forests provide,
historically, their value has been measured solely by the timber products they
produce. Through subsidies to the timber industry and road construction at
taxpayers’ expense, the Forest Service has sold timber from national forest
land to timber companies at such a low price that the agency loses millions of
dollars each year.
More
recently, the Bush administration has fought to
dismantle the 2001 Roadless Rule and to open these pristine lands to
development. This threatens not only the ecological value of these
lands but the revenue provided by those who
participate in recreational activities in our last wild national
forests. For hunters,
hikers, and campers alike, the wild characteristics of these untouched
lands are
what draw them to our national forests.
The 2001 Roadless Rule ensures that communities that rely on
income from recreation in these last wild national forests will continue to
have it for years to come. After all, national forest roadless areas belong to
all Americans and deserve federal protection.
The Bush administration’s attack on the Roadless Rule is in
keeping with their other numerous harmful policies, such as the so called “Healthy
Forests” initiative, which increases logging and removes environmental safeguards
under the guise of preventing forest fires.
In the short term, the timber companies, mining companies,
and energy companies that support the Bush administration’s policies stand to benefit
from attacks on protections for roadless forests, making millions at taxpayers’
expense. However, it is the long term losses to the American public that we need
to consider. Roadless areas are among the nation’s greatest natural assets and
their ecological and economic value is too great to sacrifice. Our last wild
national forests should be protected once and for all.
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