Roadless comments - the greens are on the warpath

[SteveVB]

Received from another list I belong to. If your interested in keeping the trails open you need to make yourself heard. The opposition is mounting a vigorous campaign and we need to get the word to to the forest service what we would like- read the letter that EarthJustice is putting out and see for yourself, but remember to delete the earth justice letter and insert the text :


Thanks
Steve

Copy of the forward:


EarthJustice has provided the perfect vehicle for us.
Go to this site:
http://ga0.org/campaign/roadless_comments/
Then click on "edit". Delete the EarthJustice
message. Copy and paste the following message where
the EarthJustice message was. Click on "save", then
send the edited message! Feel free to forward this to
your friends.


Dear U.S. Forest Service:

I am writing in response to the questions you
posed regarding the
intention of the Bush administration to
modify the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule your agency finalized in
January 2001.

I fully support the Bush administration's
decision, and am happy use
EarthJustice as a vehicle to let you know
this. I was one of the many
who attended the public hearings and spoke
out against the prior
administration's decision to implement the
Roadless Area. The rule,
as originally stated, is a congressional
bypass to establish
wilderness. Congress, as our elected
representatives, strongly
chastized Sec. Glickman and Chief Dombeck for
the plan. It was a
last-minute political effort that President
Clinton hoped would carry
Vice President Gore into office, which
thankfully failed.

I do NOT support the policy as published in
the Federal Register on
January 12, 2001. It violates a number of
federal laws and blocks
public access to public lands. I love
wilderness, but this policy is not
the proper way for it to be implemented.

I urge you to weaken or eliminate this
improper policy on all national
forests, especially Alaska's Tongass National
Forest. Roadless areas are an important
source for clean water, quality recreation
and premier fish and wildlife
habitat, but without roads to access these
lands then the only people
who will benefit are those willing and able
to venture there on foot.

I fully support your proposal to allow this
rule to be modified on a
forest-by-forest basis. Vast tracks of logged
and roaded landscapes
show the value that so many American people
place on the continued
use and access to these areas. Forests are
one of our last truely
renewable resources, and with proper care and
management, each
ecosystem will continue to be a productive
environment for all of
these "many uses" for generations to come.

The January 12 rule needs more exemptions to
protect forest health,
communities, homes and property. Furthermore,
the existing rule does
not adequately assure that the valid existing
rights of individual
landowners, states, tribes, and traditional
users have to access to
these public lands.

The timber industry and other interests want
you to keep in mind the
fact that environmental lobby is a well
funded movement, which can
easily motivate 95 percent of the 1.6 million
Americans who
commented on the January rule to support this
policy by simply
telling them insignificant facts or
statistics. The emotional argument
is the easy one to make, but the well-thought
logical one will make the
most sense for the forests.

As a citizen of this country, I have as much
right to our national
forest lands as EarthJustice does. There are
already nine times more
miles of roads in our national forests than
in the interstate highway
system. It's unfortunate that so much money
is wasted on lobbying
and donations to EarthJustice instead of on
actual maintainance and
conservation of the current system. I am
asking you to continue
allowing access to ALL of America's
beautiful, wild forests for our
children and for future generations.