Local forests threatened by proposed roadless rule reversal

The wild, roadless areas of our forests are under attack by the Bush administration. You can help defend the areas by making sure that the U.S. Forest Service receives a written comment from you before Nov. 15.

The Bush administration is trying to remove important protection from 60 million acres of our public land, including over half a million roadless acres in four Southern California national forests.

Locally, that accounts for nearly 15 percent of the land area in our forests and most of the wild backcountry that has not yet been officially protected as wilderness.

If the Bush administration can revoke these protections, our public lands will face more threats from motorcycles, new roads, transmission line corridors, logging, mining, and other damaging activities. Our wild forests need to be protected in order to sustain clean water, backcountry recreation, and wildlife habitat.

For more information, visit the Sierra Club's Southern California Forests Campaign web site at www.sierraclub.org/ca/socalforests. While you're there, consider joining the campaign to protect our local national forests.

TAKE ACTION

Write a public comment on the proposed Bush administration changes to the roadless protection rule. Your five-minute contribution will help protect the 500,000 acres of roadless areas in our treasured Southern California forests.

If you want to write a letter, you can use the sample below, modifying and personalizing it in any way you see fit, and send it to this address:

Content Analysis Team, ATTN: Roadless State Petitions, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City , UT 84122

Subject: Please Keep the Roadless Conservation Rule Intact

Regarding Docket Number: 04-16191

The Bush administration's latest effort to reduce or eliminate decades of national forest protection and increase spending to benefit timber companies must be stopped. Already, 440,000 miles of roads are carved into America's national forests. The wildly popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule helps protect our remaining wild forests and the clean water, wildlife habitat and outstanding backcountry recreation opportunities from more taxpayer-subsidized commercial logging. I urge you to abandon the Bush administration's misguided proposal and keep the Roadless Area Conservation Rule intact in the lower 48 states and Alaska's Chugach National Forest and reinstate the rule in Tongass National Forest.

The Bush administration's new policy will render the Roadless Area Conservation Rule meaningless by requiring governors to petition the U.S. Forest Service to not construct roads in or otherwise develop inventoried wild roadless forest areas. The administration also indicated that it intends to permanently exempt the national forests in Alaska from the roadless rule. I believe all of America's national forests should be protected from commercial logging, road construction and other damaging activities. I would like complete protection for all roadless areas in all national forests.

Bill Corcoran is regional representative, Southern California/Nevada Field Office.