Tom's Turn: Notes from our Senior Editor

Taking 'National' out of the National Forests

June 15, 2003

With uncharacteristic candor, the Bush administration on June 9 revealed its key plan for the national forests that belong, equally, to every American: hand them over to the timber industry. Mark Rey, the timber industry lobbyist who is now in charge of the Forest Service, announced that our two biggest, wildest forests -- the Tongass and the Chugach, both in Alaska -- will have their roadless areas thrown open to logging, reversing a policy that has been in place for more than two years.

For the rest of the country, the government now says it will invite governors to suggest wild lands they would like to see logged. This is a fundamental betrayal of the very idea of federal lands, analogous to turning civil rights protection over to the states. It was only the federal government's enforcement of the Constitution that brought segregation to an end.

Think, for a moment, what could have been the fate of our most precious public wild places: Redwoods, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and scores more, had their disposition been up to their states' governors. Most of them would be tree farms, private resorts, and slackwater reservoirs.

The policy Rey seeks to dismantle was adopted after more than a million and a half Americans had their say. Those citizens, by a margin of about ten to one, favored letting wild national forest land stay wild. This amounts to nearly 60 million acres that provide irreplaceable habitat for wildlife; protection for rivers, streams and drinking water; and opportunities for hunting, fishing, backpacking, and other recreation.

Indeed, in Alaska, where Governor Frank Murkowski has long been a champion of the timber industry at the expense of other interests, hunters, commercial and sport fishermen, recreational interests, and the tourist industry greatly benefit from protection of roadless areas. But Mark Rey was once on then-Senator Murkowski's staff, and together they conspired to give the Tongass and the Chugach to the timber industry.

Technically, the June 9 announcement concerns the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the state of Alaska. The spin-doctors in the administration are saying publicly that they are upholding the rule. In fact, what they are doing is killing the rule -- and the forests -- with back-room deals and sweetheart settlements that only invite further litigation. The administration's disdain for the legitimate opinions and views of the public has reached yet another plateau.

There are approximately 106 million acres of the American land now protected as wilderness, though the administration has recently moved on several fronts to ensure not another acre will be given such protection. The roadless areas on the national forests are every bit as vital, precious, and irreplaceable as the designated wilderness areas. The policy announced by Mark Rey is a slap in the face of every American who loves and respects the natural heritage that belongs to all of us and to future generations.

Tom Turner, Senior Editor
yourturn@earthjustice.org