Political Commentary: Joan McCarter
Roadless Rule “Timeout” Will Make Room for Reason
By Joan McCarter, 5-31-09
Back in March, 25 U.S. Senators and 131 Representatives sent letters to USDA Secretary Vilsack requesting interim protection of all roadless areas. That is what they’ve got, for the time being, in every state but Idaho, which developed it’s own roadless areas plan, and is exempted from this order. Protecting the roadless areas was also one of President Obama’s campaign promises.
To get up to speed on where we stood on the issue:
Agriculture Department officials cast the order as a procedural timeout, and said they expected Vilsack to approve some projects that meet the administration’s standards for responsible forest practices. They noted the move exempted national forests in Idaho, which has developed its own plan to manage roadless areas.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule—which President Clinton issued shortly before leaving office in 2001—had protected nearly 60 million acres of national forest land from logging and other development, largely in Western states. It touched off a protracted court battle that pitted conservation groups against the timber industry and several state governments.
The result was a pair of decisions from different federal courts. One upheld the Clinton rule. The other struck it down. Both decisions are being appealed and could wind up before the Supreme Court.
The court cases are going to move forward, and that includes a suit to halt Idaho’s implementation of the Idaho plan. Additionally, Colorado is working on its own rule for managing its more than 4 million roadless acres of national forest. For the time being, it’s covered by the directive as well.
The most immediate and critical effect is to block planned timber sales in Tongass National Forest in Alaska, halting one of the most controversial of th Bush administration’s forest management plans released in January, 2008. The Tongass plan would have opened millions of acres of currently wild and roadless federal land to logging and road building.
At 17 million acres, roughly the size of West Virginia, the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the country’s largest national forest and the world’s largest intact coastal temperate rain forest. It contains grizzly and black bears, wolves, eagles and five species of wild Alaskan salmon.
Under the new plan, about 3.4 million acres of the forest would be open to logging and development. Of this acreage, about 2.4 million is in roadless areas, and about 663,000 acres is considered to have trees valuable for timber production.
There’s just over half a million acres that has valuable timber, but the Bush administration had opened the whole 3.4 million acreage for road building. Seattle PI columnist Joel Connelly wrote about the rule:
OK, the 17-million-acre Tongass already has a lot of designated wilderness. One is pressed to think of a major icefield that does not enjoy the highest measure of federal protection.
The problem is, wild creatures live in low-elevation forests and valleys and wetlands. About 18 months ago, I watched brown bears feeding in an estuary off Upper Tenakee Inlet of Chichagof Island, an area slated to get new roads and be clear-cut.
Does this make sense? A total of 3,700 miles of roads now crisscross the Tongass and adjoining native lands.
And the U.S. Treasury? In 2002, the U.S. Forest Service spent $36 million on its Tongass timber sales program, and received back just $1.2 million from timber companies.
Not a great return for the public on that one, but in the previous administration, public return seemed to be much less of a priority than private gain. The primary concern with this new interim plan, which could be extended for a second year, is that the decision-making is vested in Vilsack instead of in a real review process. But given the slowness with which administrative positions are being filled, that might be a blessing. Certainly Bush holdovers in the agency weren’t committed to following a scientifically based process for making decisions, so if they’re not pulling the strings on this one, so much the better.
[End of article]It is inevitable that all points on the continent will eventually be reachable by automobile. Turning decisions over to individual state legislators and governors will simply reduce the delay.
Expose a slice of white bread and watch as it is overwhelmed by green mold.
The infection is inevitable; but if the mold is introduced at several points the inevitable will happen much more quickly...
Joan, A good piece despite your usual pathological Bush bashing. But everybody needs an amusing hobby. Unfortunately, yours colors every piece. Too bad.
Comment By Bill Croke, 6-01-09And so much for the jobs lost thanks to "Reason". America is being reasonable all the way to penury. That means extreme poverty, Horst.
Comment By the real mike, 6-01-09Look, Croak, despite your success in fooling the morons who read the American Spectator into thinking you're some wise westerner, we've already established that you're just a liberal arts dropout from upstate New York pretending to be a genuine westerner. Your American Spectator readers see you claim to be a writer from Cody, then a writer from Idaho. It's all bull. You're from upstate New York. Your a fake in every sense of the word, your feigned education, your contrived phony background, your pretense to experience and knowledge of anything it takes to sustain the western economy. Your whole silly phony life looks to have been an "amusing hobby" so what qualifies you to comment on jobs gained or lost, on what is or is not reasonable, or on anything for that matter. You're a charlatan.
Comment By Bill Croke, 6-01-09Mikey, Thanks for the plug. Thank God I don't have a graduate degree like you. But I have worked for the forest service and SPI in California. Been out here on and off for a total of 30 years since '75. And I can comment on anything I want until you progressive types get around to shooting me or locking me up. Anyway, as usual, you're a bitter guy, Mikey. Maybe you and Horst and Jay Kanta can start a little anger management group. Or meet to read and discuss the American Spectator. That would be very therapeutic. Cheers, and keep reading my stuff. Thanks again.
Comment By TreeHugger, 6-01-09Bill,
Ouch! I think you really touched a sore nerve in real mike. You have to understand he's a bit ornery these days with his NREPA bill being so widely ignored around the country. I do happen to agree with you on your gripes about Joan's commentary.
Everything Bush did clearly was a conspiracy, and surely there were no honest working Americans in the Dep.of Agriculture during his tenure....? I'm not a big Bush fan, I didn't vote for him in either term, but I'm not stupid enough to believe in the broad generalizations that "land of make believers" pass off as given fact.
I think that Bush's forest policy legacy will be looked upon favorably down the line. Don't be too surprised if you see the Obama administration championing many of the same management principles and tools that Mark Rey originally introduced by the end of their term in office.
You see, the left-wingers are a little bit scared of Obama on these environmental issues. They're afraid that he's too open to reason and will see through their usual propaganda and scare tactics. What does Obama have to lose?, where would the make believers take their vote...to Ralph Nader again?
Perhaps the Supreme Court will take on the "Roaded" case and deliver a real WILD ruling striking the original conservation rule down,....but that of course would just be another example of an unfortunate Bush holdover instead of judicial justice.
Treehugger, I think Mikey's big nightmare is that Obama doesn't give a rat's ass about the public lands. He's a city guy, and thinks all he needs to do to enhance his green reputation is push cap and trade, and make GM build tiny little cars. He'll play PC politics with public lands (his nomination of Homer Wilkes should tell you that). And he has Salazar--Vilsack to sweat most of it. He could care less about Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, etc., because he won't win those red states in 2012, and it's doubtful many --if any--Dem Congressional seats will be won in those states in 2010. He's too busy being the Sun King to care about "wilderness" issues.
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