[pct-l] Last Straw...

[akamp at qwest.net (Dave F)]

here is something were is the worlds first national park were is the 
worlds first national forest. i live in the first forest it is shoeshine 
national forest and the first national park int he world is Yelowsotne 
also here in wyoming but monta like to take claim for yelowsotne but the 
part on monta is so small if you blinked you would miss it

>
> Ed Gilroy wrote:
>
>> I have to say "The Last Straw" seems like a bit of a overreaction to 
>> a situation that is merely a retreat to the original rules.
>>
>> "National Forest Land" is not "National Park Land". The purpose of 
>> the National Forests is:
>>
>> Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to provide quality 
>> water and timber for the Nation's benefit. Over the years, the public 
>> has expanded the list of what they want from national forests and 
>> grasslands. Congress responded by directing the Forest Service to 
>> manage national forests for additional multiple uses and benefits and 
>> for the sustained yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, 
>> wildlife, wood, and recreation. Multiple use means managing resources 
>> under the best combination of uses to benefit the American people 
>> while ensuring the productivity of the land and protecting the 
>> quality of the environment.
>>
>> This is from the Forest Service website.
>>
>> My opinion is that this reversal is good news. If you want change, 
>> better to have it done at the state level where your local politicans 
>> need to satisfy a smaller base of constitutents. Your vote can be heard.
>>
>> It isn't really the end of the world, it may just seem like it if 
>> your M.O. is to overreact to everything.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shawn Loga" 
>> <smashnationalism@yahoo.com>
>> To: "pct-l" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
>> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 10:34 AM
>> Subject: [pct-l] Last Straw...
>>
>>
>>> This is the last straw.  I can't take it anymore.  First, the Artic 
>>> National Wildlife Refuge.  Now, this.  I really don't know what to 
>>> do anymore.  I am lost.
>>>
>>> With a heavy heart and a broken spirit, Shawn
>>>
>>>
>>> Full article from the Chicago Tribune:
>>>
>>> The Bush administration Thursday took sweeping action to open nearly 
>>> 60 million acres--about one-third of national forest land--to new 
>>> road construction, which in turn could lead to logging, mining and 
>>> other commercial use of these previously protected areas.
>>> -Chicago Tribune
>>>
>>> Bush opens U.S. forests
>>> Critics decry rule allowing new roads in a third of nation's woodlands
>>>
>>> By Michael Kilian, Washington Bureau. "Forest Service roadless 
>>> areas" list by the Associated Press
>>> Published May 6, 2005
>>>
>>> WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Thursday took sweeping action 
>>> to open nearly 60 million acres--about one-third of national forest 
>>> land--to new road construction, which in turn could lead to logging, 
>>> mining and other commercial use of these previously protected areas.
>>>
>>> Although lawsuits are still pending over the issue, the plan undoes 
>>> the "roadless rule" that President Bill Clinton ordered in 2001 
>>> during his last days in office. It had banned more road construction 
>>> on 58.5 million acres of national forests, nearly all of them in 
>>> Alaska and 11 other Western states.
>>>
>>> In announcing the policy, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, whose 
>>> department includes the U.S. Forest Service, praised it as 
>>> cooperative, collaborative conservation. "Our actions today advance 
>>> President Bush's commitment to cooperatively conserve inventoried 
>>> roadless areas within our national forests," Johanns said. He added 
>>> that his department "is committed to working closely with the 
>>> nation's governors to meet the needs of our local communities while 
>>> protecting and restoring the health and natural beauty of our 
>>> national forests."
>>>
>>> Conservation groups termed the move a mammoth step backward.
>>>
>>> "Millions of acres of our last wild forests are now immediately at 
>>> risk," said Robert Vandermark, director of the conservationist 
>>> Heritage Forests Campaign, who noted that 386,000 miles of roads 
>>> already exist in U.S. forest lands and that the Forest Service has a 
>>> $10 billion maintenance backlog on them.
>>>
>>> "This leave-no-tree-behind policy paves the way for increased 
>>> logging and mining in much of the nation's last wild areas," he said.
>>>
>>> Niel Lawrence, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense 
>>> Council, said, "The president has replaced the roadless rule with 
>>> the `treeless rule.' He has deprived future generations of their 
>>> birthright and national heritage."
>>>
>>> Of the total area affected, road-building and subsequent commercial 
>>> uses could be started immediately in 34.3 million acres because the 
>>> Forest Service, which builds the roads, has already prepared 
>>> management plans.
>>>
>>> An additional 24.2 million acres could ultimately be opened to road 
>>> construction and commercial development, but governors have 18 
>>> months to file petitions seeking to restore the "roadless rule" on 
>>> sections of national forest in their states or to offer new plans to 
>>> allow and manage commercial uses.
>>>
>>> The states would have to work with the Forest Service and localities 
>>> in drawing up any such plans and the Forest Service would have final 
>>> say.
>>>
>>> In a separate statement, the Agriculture Department said that 
>>> Thursday's action would require the federal government to "work with 
>>> states, tribes, local communities and the public through a process 
>>> that is fair, open and responsive to local input and information."
>>>
>>> In the past, federal conservation policies and initiatives have led 
>>> to clashes with local politicians and interest groups that support 
>>> commercial use of the forests to maintain jobs and tax bases.
>>>
>>> Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said 
>>> the administration was "selling out to the logging and timber 
>>> industry" and that Bush was opposing the will of the public on the 
>>> roadless issue.
>>>
>>> "To date, the Forest Service has received a record-breaking 4 
>>> million public comments in support of the rule," she said. "The rule 
>>> also enjoys broad support among members of Congress, governors, 
>>> local officials, businesses, hunters and anglers, scientists, 
>>> economists and religious organizations."
>>>
>>> The Natural Resources Defense Council's Lawrence argued that the 
>>> petition process called for in the administration's initiative is 
>>> pointless because ultimate authority over whether to allow roads and 
>>> commercial exploitation remains with the administration.
>>>
>>> "The `treeless rule' is about replacing real protections with a 
>>> meaningless process," he said.
>>>
>>> Logging and union worker interests applauded the move.
>>>
>>> W. Henson Moore, president and chief executive of the American 
>>> Forest and Paper Association, said the administration has crafted "a 
>>> thoughtful, legal and effective plan."
>>>
>>> "The courts struck down the Clinton-era rule," he said. "This new 
>>> rule gives governors the opportunity to work with the Forest Service 
>>> to identify special and unique places in their states and then 
>>> create broadly supported plans for conservation and preservation."
>>>
>>> Michael Draper, vice president of the United Brotherhood of 
>>> Carpenters' Western Region and chairman of an umbrella group that 
>>> represents 500,000 union workers, said, "The new rule returns the 
>>> decisions that will guide management of the forests to the local 
>>> level--to the people who live near the land and know it and its 
>>> needs the best."
>>>
>>> In announcing the action, the Agriculture Department said the new 
>>> rule would remove legal uncertainties that have clouded the issue. 
>>> In July 2003, a federal district court in Wyoming struck down the 
>>> Clinton administration's widespread ban on more road construction in 
>>> the forests. That decision was appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit 
>>> Court of Appeals in Denver, which heard arguments in the case 
>>> earlier this week.
>>>
>>> In 2001, in a separate lawsuit over the rules, logging interests won 
>>> an injunction against the Clinton-era rule in an Idaho court, but 
>>> that was overturned on appeal by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
>>>
>>> Thirty-eight states and Puerto Rico have national forest land at 
>>> least marginally affected by the roadless rule, but 97 percent of 
>>> the acreage lies within Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, 
>>> Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and 
>>> Wyoming.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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