A Newsletter by and about the Quilcene Ancient Forest Coalition, February 1998

Contents:

• CALENDAR
• COMMENTS NEEDED ON ROADLESS POLICY
• FOREST SUPERVISOR RETIRES
• Correction

Feb. 13-15 - Fri.-Sun. - Ashland, Oregon - Western Ancient Forest Activists Conference Call 385-6271 for more info

COMMENTS NEEDED ON ROADLESS POLICY

1. Submit your public comments for the Interim Roadbuilding Moratorium to: Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination Staff, MAIL STOP 1104, Forest Service, USDA, P.O. Box 96090, Washington DC 20090-6090. Comments also may be sent by email to roads/wo@fs.fed.us

   Comments on the interim moratorium are due by February 27.

   Here are some basic talking points on the Roadbuilding Moratorium:

   1. The moratorium should apply to all National Forests. There should be no exemptions for any forests. The Tongass NF and the Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest are national treasures that should preserved, not squandered. In addition, the recently-approved Forest Plans for the Black Hills (South Dakota) and Rio Grande NFs (Colorado) are woefully inadequate plans that failed to protect the few remaining roadless areas and proposed no new lands for wilderness designation.
   2. The moratorium should apply to all roadless areas 1,000 acres or larger. Leaving smaller roadless areas out of the policy effectively exempts certain regions of the country that do not have areas larger than 5,000 acres. This is particularly true for Northeastern forests and the Eastside forests of Oregon and Washington.
   3. The moratorium should apply to both logging and grazing in addition to roadbuilding. There is significant scientific evidence that logging and grazing harm roadless areas and are incompatible with maintaining the pristine character and ecological functions of these areas.

The Forest Service has announced a longer-term process to determine the fate of roadless areas and to revise the management of the massive 440,000-mile road network on NF lands. There will be a 60-day public comment period on this proposal. This broader policy will concern transportation planning on each National Forest, road maintenance and the removal of unnecessary or ecologically harmful roads. There was no firm timeline on this process, but the agency's goal is to complete it by the time the moratorium expires, or sooner.

The agency has made clear that it intends to use this process to devise new standards and guidelines for roadbuilding in roadless areas as part of the new "roads assessment" process--not to protect roadless areas. Roadless area timber sales under contract are not affected by the directive, but pending sales may proceed in an altered form and some may be delayed until this roads assessment process is implemented and the moratorium is lifted. The agency claims the assessment process will "help managers and the public better understand the consequences of building roads in roadless areas."

If it is based on science, the long-term roadless/roads policy should implement a permanent moratorium on roadbuilding and other activities harmful to roadless areas such as logging, grazing and oil drilling--not create new loopholes to allow for more roadbuilding in roadless areas. This long-term policy also needs to identify how the agency will begin the monumental task of maintaining a crumbling road network with $10 billion in needed repairs and maintenance, removing excess roads and rehabilitating damaged watersheds and streams.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Submit comments on the long-term Roadless Area Protection policy to: Gerald (Skip) Coghlan, Acting Director, Engineering Staff, Forest Service, USDA, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090-6090, and also at roads/wo@fs.fed.us

   Comments on the long-term policy are due by March 27.

   Talking Points for Long-Term Roadless Area Protection Policy:

   1. The interim roadbuilding moratorium should become a permanent ban on roadbuilding, logging, grazing and oil & gas development in all roadless areas. Any long term policy to allow roadbuilding in roadless areas ignores the best available scientific information and would undermine public trust in the agency and will likely rekindle conflicts over roadless area management that the Administration's roadbuilding moratorium and long-term policy seek to address.
   2. The long-term roadless area policy should be developed by an independent scientific body and be subject to peer review.
   3. The Forest Service should conduct an inventory of the roads on each National Forest, assess their condition and prioritize road projects to achieve the highest ecological benefit.
   4. Funding for road maintenance and removal should be significantly increased. However, these funds should not be provided by expanding timber sales or the use of off-budget funds that rely on timber sales. Often the agency justifies timber sales by stating the money is needed for the "restoration" of roads, watersheds, etc. But by being tied to a timber sale, the overall benefit to the environment by this "restoration" is very questionable. Road retirement projects should be conducted on a demonstration basis and monitored to determine their environmental impacts and effectiveness.
   5. Road density calculations for each Forest should include county, state and federal highways which are currently excluded.

   We need to keep the Administration in the loop as we are submitting our comments. Please send copies of your comments to:

   • Vice President Al Gore at 202/456-2326, fax 456-7044, OEOB, Rm. 274, Washington, DC 20501, vicepresident@whitehouse.gov

   • Katie McGinty, Director of the Council on Environmental Quality, at 202/456-6224, fax 456-2710, OEOB, Rm. 360, Washington, DC 20501.

   Congress is expected to influence the final outcome of the roads policy. Over the next month, WAFC will be working to gather support from Congress for a stronger moratorium and a long-term policy that will protect roadless areas from roadbuilding, logging, grazing and oil & gas development. However, western Republicans may have a different strategy in mind.

   There are rumblings of a possible rider to prevent the Administration from implementing the roadbuilding moratorium. This would be consistent with the letter sent from Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) and five other westerners warning the Administration that they would strongly resist attempts by the Forest Service to ban logging in roadless areas. While the Administration's proposal is only an 18-month roadbuilding moratorium, it would result in the delay or possible cancellation of some timber sales. We will keep you posted on any reactionary efforts to require the logging of our remaining pristine wildlands.

A decision will be made in the spring regarding a permanent Supervisor. In the meantime we look forward to sharing our ideas and interests about Olympic National Forest management with Ms. Lavendel.

Correction