Decision on roads in forests hits speed bump

By Matthew Daly
The Associated Press

HALL ANDERSON / AP Bare land where clear-cutting has occurred is visible in Alaska's Tongass National Forest in this photo from 1990, more than a decade before President Clinton's "roadless rule" took effect. Road-building has been a contentious issue in the forest.

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Included are 2 million acres in Washington state.

Public comments on the proposed rule change, announced in July, will now be accepted through Nov. 15, instead of an earlier deadline set for next week.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who directs U.S. forest policy, called the delay a "fairly straightforward" response to requests from a variety of groups for more time.

"It's unrelated to the elections," Rey said.

But environmentalists said the administration appeared to be rethinking the plan — at least temporarily — in the face of widespread opposition.

Key election states with roadless land Colorado 4.4 million acres Washington 2 million acres Oregon 2 million acres New Mexico 1.6 million acres The Associated Press

"I think the administration recognizes the folly of opening up 58 million acres of protected forests during an electoral campaign," said Jay Ward, political director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, an environmental group.

But a timber-industry group said the delay is simply about giving the public a chance to have a say.

"I think it shows how transparent this administration is in truly wanting thoughtful and substantive comments," said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council of Portland, which represents 80 timberland owners and wood-products manufacturers.

The administration said in July it planned to reverse the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a 2001 executive order by President Clinton that prohibits road construction on nearly a third of federal forestland. No roads has meant no logging, mining, or oil and gas development.

"With hundreds of thousands of comments pouring into the Forest Service admonishing their proposal, the American people clearly continue to overwhelmingly support protecting our last wild forests," said Robert Vandermark, co-director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, another environmental group.

The administration's plan calls for governors to decide by 2006 whether to petition the federal government to block new roads in their forests.

The bulk of the land is in the West, including 4.4 million acres in Colorado, 2 million acres each in Oregon and Washington state, and 1.6 million acres in New Mexico. All are considered key states in the presidential election.

Gov. Gary Locke has publicly opposed the Bush proposal. Yesterday, a spokesman, Glenn Kuper, said the delay doesn't change Locke's position.

In Seattle, environmentalists said the move suggests the Bush administration may be realizing that it underestimated how popular the so-called "roadless rule" has been.

"It was the most popular regulation ever adopted by the federal government," said Mike Anderson, a senior policy analyst for the Wilderness Society in Seattle. "A lot of people are outraged that the Bush administration would try to throw this out."

But Anderson said he doesn't expect the delay will last.

"I don't expect them to drop this," he said.

Ward, of the environmental Oregon Natural Resources Council, said opposition to the proposed rule change is substantial throughout the West, and may have been enough for the administration to recalculate its plans. More than 2.5 million people commented on the original Clinton plan, with about 95 percent in favor of forest protection.

Opposition to the Bush rule "may not be significant in every state, but in a swing state like Oregon or New Mexico it's enough to cost the president the election," Ward said.

Rey called that wishful thinking and said the delay should be taken at face value.

"It indicates only that we've had a number of requests from a wide range of groups who made a reasonable case they need more time, and we're giving it to them," he said.

West, of the industry group American Forest Resource Council, said the alleged popularity of the roadless rule was based on organized campaigns by environmental groups to "flood the ballot boxes" with positive comments, and the Clinton administration was uninterested in other comments.

He said members of his group have no problems with a two-month delay.

"It's simply about how do we best choose which roadless areas to protect," he said. "It's the environmentalists who want to use this for political purposes."

Seattle Times staff reporter Ian Ith contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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