1.3 million comment on forest plan

WASHINGTON – More than 1.3 million people have sent letters, e-mails, and faxes to the Forest Service in the last two months regarding changes that would open tracts of national forest to new roads for logging and mining.

The Forest Service extended the comment period, which ended Monday, beyond the election after receiving comments on proposed changes to roadless area rules that have been in dispute since President Bill Clinton signed them into law in 2001.

About 95 percent of the comments supported keeping the Clinton rules, according to a spokeswoman for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

But Cantwell still expects the administration to open 2 million acres of now-protected Washington forest to the possibility of road building.

“We aren’t terribly optimistic that they are going to change their agenda,” Cantwell spokeswoman Charla Neuman said.

About 58 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land have been designated as roadless areas – undeveloped, often rugged land such as parts of the Kettle Range in Colville National Forest.

At the very end of his administration, Clinton signed a bill that prohibits building new roads for logging, mining and other activities in those areas.

But the roadless rule has been in a state of limbo since Idaho filed a lawsuit challenging it shortly after it became law.

Alaska, Utah and other states, along with the timber industry, also filed challenges, questioning the legality of rules they say hurt local economies.

In July, the Bush administration proposed replacing the prohibition with a process that allows governors to ask the federal government to conserve roadless areas or open them up to new roads for mining or logging.

The new proposal received strong support from Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who said the existing rules don’t give states enough say in how their lands are managed.

The Forest Service controls about 38 percent of all the land in Idaho, and about 17 percent of land the agency controls is considered roadless national forest.

Some governors in other Western states oppose the changes, saying the Bush plan will only add bureaucracy to forest management while exposing pristine wilderness to logging and mining.

“There is no mandate for the Bush administration to open up the roadless areas,” said Bill Richardson, New Mexico’s Democratic governor, in a call to reporters.

He called the governors’ review of roadless decisions a “ruse” that would cost states money, while the ultimate decision on a forest designation would remain with the U.S. secretary of agriculture.

Spokesmen from the Forest Service said the department and Congress will review the comments for 60 to 90 days.

Ann Veneman announced she would resign as agriculture secretary Monday, and her replacement has not yet been announced.

Her successor will likely make the final decision regarding the roadless rules early next year.