Roadless Plan Comes Under Fire North Idahoans At Cda Hearing Warn Of Natural, Economic Disaster

Emotions ran high Wednesday at the only public comment hearing in North Idaho on a controversial proposal to protect roadless federal forests around the country.

Most of the 200 people came to the Idaho Panhandle National Forests office to oppose the U.S. Forest Service proposal that would ban constructing new roads and rebuilding roads across 43 million acres of federal forests, including 8 million in Idaho.

Speaker after speaker condemned the Clinton administration for sacrificing the forests of Idaho to catastrophes such as wildfire.

Elton Turcotte, a Coeur d’Alene resident, predicted that a ban on future roads in roadless forests will leave locals helpless to fight fires.

“I hope the people in this room will send the damn bill to Washington, D.C. when the fire comes - because it is going to come,” Turcotte said.

Rural residents said protecting roadless areas will cost timber jobs by forcing companies to use expensive alternatives such as helicopter logging.

Boundary County Commissioner Merle Dinning said he went to work for Pack River Lumber after graduating from high school in 1969. He pulled in $5 an hour.

“Today, my son works as a prep cook at Kootenai River Inn at the same wage,” Dinning said. “I didn’t think I could raise a family on my wage at that time. Today, I know he can’t.”

Just before the hearing started, someone had a few angry - and four-letter - words for conservationist Steve Bradbury as he handed out pamphlets from a table. “It’s a real emotional issue and some people are real angry,” Bradbury said.

Cutting through the emotions to the facts of the issue is difficult, officials said.

Several federal studies show that roadless forests are healthier than forests with roads, said Dave O’Brien, a spokesman for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

And on the Panhandle, like other forests, wildfires usually start outside roadless areas, O’Brien said.

“Most of our fires are human-caused, and by far and away that occurs outside of roadless,” he said.

Most of the 65 people who testified at the meeting said they want the agency to scrap roadless protections altogether in favor of local forest control.

But some who testified said North Idaho’s forests contain enough roads.

The forests up the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River are already riddled by roads, said Coeur d’Alene resident John Karpenko, a trail biker and snowmobiler.

“I think there’s plenty of roads for me now. I’d like to save what’s left,” Karpenko said. “Just because you can get a machine up there doesn’t mean you’ve got a right to.”

There are 7,000 miles of roads on the Panhandle, and up to 10 miles of road per square mile on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, said Mike Peterson, of The Lands Council.

The small amount of timber coming off federal lands doesn’t affect mills in the region, said Larry McLaud, of the Idaho Conservation League’s Moscow office.

Potlatch recently announced layoffs linked to a timber glut, McLaud pointed out.

Many people asked the agency to extend the comment period by four months. State officials have accused the Forest Service of trying to push the roadless initiative through while President Clinton is in office.

Thorpe Orton, deputy chief of staff for Idaho’s Attorney General, praised local forest officials, instructing meeting goers to direct comments to Clinton and Gore “and the other short-timers in Washington, D.C.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: To comment

Comments are taken on the Forest Service roadless proposal until July 17 by fax - (877) 703-2494 - or via the Internet at roadless.fs.fed.us.

Mail comments to: USDA Forest Service-CAET, Post Office Box 221090, Attention: Roadless Areas Proposed Rule, Salt Lake City, UT, 84122.