Parks, Open Spaces, Wild Places Reports
Search
•
RSS Feed
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. Since 2000, Pennsylvania residents
have submitted 112,179 comments, with the overwhelming majority of them in
favor of protecting the state’s 25,000 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 Pennsylvania, 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, 4.2 million Pennsylvania residents
took part in hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching; that same year,
wildlife-related recreation contributed $4 billion to the state economy.
Some of the most unspoiled habitat for
threatened, endangered, and declining species is found in roadless areas. Pennsylvania’s
national forests are home to four 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.
|
