A policy revival for roadless forests

MAKING all new logging or road building in roadless national forests subject to review by the secretary of agriculture is a welcome first step toward restoring conservation rules on 58 million acres of public land.

President Obama's directive gives a pulse to carefully developed management policies from the Clinton administration that were abandoned in 2005 by the Bush administration.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule ended up in the courts with conflicting decisions. Obama's order comes with appeals pending in the 9th and 10th Circuit Courts.

Passions are strong because preservation of pristine forestland touches 38 states. The U.S. Forest Service spent three years to develop the rules. The U.S. has 191 million acres of national forest; roadless areas account for 30 percent.

Protecting these forestlands, and perhaps most accurately, aggressively managing them, united the interests of environmentalists, budget hawks, and recreational and outdoor groups.

The rules provided for maintaining existing uses, with local forest managers able to make decisions about selective logging, grazing, fishing and hunting. These are working forests, not wilderness areas, but their pristine character has its own value, as noted by Gov. Chris Gregoire in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack:

"We have 2 million acres of pristine roadless forests that provide vital clean drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife, carbon sequestration, and outstanding recreational opportunities for Washingtonians to enjoy our great outdoors."

Road building in national forests comes with a nasty double-hit on the treasury. The federal government subsidizes road construction for timber companies. Erosion of poorly maintained or abandoned logging roads destroy salmon habitat and restoration projects. Taxpayers pay twice.

Call it a pause, timeout or respite, but Obama's directive will restart a coherent roadless policy.