ADMINISTRATION’S NEW ROADLESS AREAS POLICY
BREAKS PROMISES AND SENDS MESSAGE THAT
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT DOESN’T COUNT

EASTSIDE ECOSYSTEM COALITION OF COUNTIES (EECC) THREATENS WALKOUT FROM INTERIOR COLUMBIA BASIN ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT PLAN IF THE ADMINISTRATION GOES FORWARD WITH ITS ROADLESS/WILDERNESS POLICY

Finally, county commissioners representing the counties in the seven states covered by the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Plan (ICBEMP) appear to recognize that the Clinton/Gore Administration is not playing straight with ICBEMP.

If the Administration goes forward with its 2 year plus Roadless Areas Moratorium it send the strong signal that it doesn’t care what the county commissioners have to say. It will violate numerous promises and due process public comment notices and essentially bypass Congress. For example, the moratorium would:

• Give management direction overriding thousands of public comments on 36 national forest plans in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming;
• Of 191 million acres in the National Forest system, only 41 million acres is available for timber harvest. The Clinton/Gore Roadless Plan would lock up between 20-25% of that total nationwide.
• Violate the Northwest Forest Plan by including its area in the Roadless/Wilderness Moratorium.
• Ignore all the tens of thousands of public comments to the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1996, the largest public comment process in Forest Service history.
• Prevent the harvesting of 800 million board feet of timber over the next two years;
• Eliminate, with the stroke of a pen, 14,000 timber industry jobs for the next two years;
• Ignore Congressional intent on Wilderness Release Language;
• Forget all the negotiated settlements on Wilderness acreage in the various states;
• Bypass Congress, who is supposed to designate official Wilderness areas;
• Ignore the needs of ranchers in the affected areas;
• Reduce lands available for mineral discovery driving good paying jobs overseas;
• Severely impact motorized recreation in National Forest areas; and
• Forget the wishes and desires of local elected officials.

To those living in states other than those covered by ICBEMP, the message is that Ecosystem Planning is coming to your area. If Clinton/Gore doesn’t get what they want there, then they’ll use a Presidential Edict of some kind to take away any rights they left at the negotiating table. Being reasonable doesn’t count.

All elected officials and organizations should view the Roadless/Wilderness Moratorium as a threat to any negotiated settlements you may have underway. You should do as the Eastside Ecosystem Coalition of Counties appears to be doing with ICBEMP. That is, draw a line in the sand. It says, "If you cross it we drop out of the process." If enough elected officials and organizations do that, the Clinton/Gore team may not move forward with that Roadless plan.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW!

1. Call your Congressman (202-225–3121) and Senators (202-224-3121) to urge them to oppose the Roadless Areas plan. Ask them to send you a copy of their letter. They need to send the message to the Administration that they will take away funding for Clinton/Gore projects if the plan goes through.
2. Urge your elected officials to call the White House.
3. Call the White House yourself. There is a special list of internal White House numbers from our Global Warming fax in December. Click here to see that alert and the phone list. The White House call in line is (202) 456-1414. The fax number is (202) 456-2461. E-mail is: [email protected].
4. Call your county commissioner if you live in an ICBEMP state. Urge him or her to drop out of the ICBEMP project if the Roadless areas plan goes forward (they should never have been part of it).
5. If you are part of any negotiated process with the Administration, send the message that the Roadless Areas Plan will violate that process. Ask for your area to be exempted.

For More Information Contact:

American Land Rights Association
Tel: CompanyPhone
FAX: CompanyFAX