Chenoweth Stumps For Free-Rein Logging In Letter To Clinton, Lawmaker Calls Roadless-Area Restrictions Unfair

Preventing logging in Forest Service roadless areas - even temporarily - would violate wilderness laws and undermine U.S. Forest Service management, U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth says.

Chenoweth sent a letter to President Bill Clinton on Wednesday accusing him of preparing to close timber sales in roadless areas. Her salvo comes on the heels of a call from the environmental community, also on Wednesday, for Clinton to block all timber sales in roadless areas larger than 1,000 acres.

Any such move would “render the public involvement process completely meaningless,” Chenoweth said. “In addition, numerous individual laws have been passed to establish wilderness areas, at the same time releasing other lands for multiple use.”

Forest management instead should be done on the ground with full public involvement, she said.

Chenoweth demanded a reply by Jan. 5. U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, R-Ga., is simultaneously threatening to sue the Clinton administration if it blocks logging in roadless areas by executive order.

The controversy arises partly because logging roads have become an increasingly difficult issue for the Forest Service to defend. Fiscal conservatives and environmental advocates forged an unusual alliance in Congress this year and nearly succeeded in making significant cuts to the Forest Service road program.

Worse, the agency is expected to release a report in January that says it has 440,000 miles of road, in addition to state and county roads that wind through the national forest, Forest Service sources said. That’s 60,000 miles more than the agency has ever acknowledged and nearly 10 times the mileage of America’s interstate highway system.

In addition, the report will say that it would take $10 billion to bring all of the roads up to current standards, sources said.

Environmentalists say Chenoweth’s arguments don’t make sense. For example, “There has never been federal legislation regarding wilderness in Idaho,” so no law would be violated, said Gary Mcfarlane of the Friends of the Clearwater. And no Forest Service plan mandates logging in the roadless areas, he said.

Tim Coleman of the Kettle Range Conservation District said true public involvement would kill efforts to log roadless areas. “Whether it’s opinion polls or specific timber sales, the public continually say they don’t want logging in roadless areas,” he said.

“Is Helen willing to give us a popular vote on this?”

, DataTimes