In Brief: On May 5, 2005, the Bush administration repealed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule putting nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forest lands, formerly off-limits to virtually all road building and logging, at risk. Hunters, fishermen, conservation groups, and millions of Americans considered the Roadless Rule one of the greatest conservation measures in U.S. history. Earthjustice has been working to defend the rule since its entry into law in 2001 and will continue fighting to prevent the irretrievable loss of our nation's last wild forests.

05/15/05

On May 5th the Bush administration repealed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (a process it formally began in July of 2004) and put wild lands across the country in jeopardy. Like all conservationists, we are disappointed to lose such an effective and powerful regulation -- the Roadless Rule protected one-third of the National Forest system from road building and commercial logging. But, our commitment is not merely to preserving regulations; instead, we are dedicated to the preservation of America's wild lands. To this end, our commitment and dedication are stronger than ever.

Thinking back to 2001 and President Bush's first inauguration, few in the conservation community had much hope for the longevity of the then newly enacted Roadless Rule. The timber industry was challenging the rule in district courts across the West and the administration showed little interest in defending it, let alone actually implementing the rule. Still, almost four and a half years later, nearly all the national forest lands that were roadless when President Bush took office still are.

The reason is simple. Earthjustice, on behalf of our clients, intervened to enforce the rule -- when the administration neglected its duty to do so -- from the timber industry's challenges. Indeed, without Earthjustice, the Roadless Rule would have been scrapped in 2001 and the lands it protected flung open to development. In 2004, as we continued to defend the Roadless Rule in court, the Bush administration took further steps to sell out our national forests to its friends in the extractive industries. The administration formally began the process of dismantling the rule, complete with the obligatory public comment period. Not surprisingly, a public outcry ensued. As in 2001, well over a million Americans submitted comments urging the Forest Service to keep our wild forests wild. Despite the public's overwhelming support for these wild areas, the administration kowtowed to industry and released a rule designed to allow access to areas coveted for years by timber companies. This outcome was predictable -- it keeps with the administration's pattern of opening more and more of our public lands to development with fewer and fewer regulations.

The new Bush rule has terrible implications: It seeks to fragment the management of the National Forest System with a state-by-state approach, ignoring the fact that national forests belong to all of us -- independent of proximity -- and assumes that governors, who are often beholden to local industries, somehow have a special insight into the management of the nation's public lands. Clearly, the administration has stacked the deck in favor of extractive industries.

But the administration has not convinced the public. Thanks to the steadfast support of concerned Americans, Earthjustice and its allies have forced the Forest Service to evolve. No longer is the agency focused solely on benefiting the extractive industries, and it is unlikely that logging and road building will ever return to the days of rampant abuse that existed in the 1980s.

However, just being able to say that the future of our national forests is not quite as bleak as it was 20 years ago is not an acceptable outcome. Protecting the wild regions of our national forests is at the core of Earthjustice's mission. These public lands are a critical haven for wildlife -- roadless areas provide needed habitat for 25 percent of our endangered species -- and millions of people depend on clean drinking water flowing from the roadless watersheds in our national forests. It is going to take some creative thinking if we are going to save these vital lands. Thankfully, we still have several avenues available.

Earthjustice can challenge the new rule in court as an illegal repeal of the Roadless Rule. Simultaneously, the public can lobby governors and Congress and encourage them to support the preservation of roadless areas in their states and not fund the construction of new roads in national forests. Given the country's current budget woes and the staggering cost of maintaining the 386,000-mile network of existing Forest Service roads -- built largely for the benefit of the timber industry but paid for by the American taxpayer -- rational members of Congress should be agreeable. Finally, if all else fails, we will litigate to preserve the areas that are the most important ecologically and, if lost, will be an irreversible blow to our nation's natural heritage. For years Earthjustice has successfully defended these lands and we are prepared to continue the fight.

As always, I encourage you to send me your comments and questions, which should be addressed to buckparker@earthjustice.org.

Vawter "Buck" Parker, Executive Director
buckparker@earthjustice.org