The following commentary is from an editorial that appeared recently in the Clark County (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian.

Although environmentalists are understandably outraged, some good could come out of President Bush’s ruling to end the Clinton administration’s protection of 58.5 million acres of roadless areas in our national forests.

Could. That’s the operative word.

The good that could come of the action is that governors will now join the U.S. Forest Service and its parent agency, the Department of Agriculture, in determining what national forest roadless areas, if any, should be opened for extraction industries. It should lead to states being in sync with the feds on roadless areas in those states and not facing each other in court.

Still, it must be said, the ruling also raises a big red warning flag, even if it is one with a potential upside.

We aren’t convinced, as are many in the environmental community, that the action will automatically open the floodgates for bulldozers, loggers and miners, as Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., fears. She fired off a statement saying the action, which targets 2 million acres in Washington and 215,000 acres in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, amounted to “payback time for the special interests as the Bush administration paves over long-term protection for 60 million acres of pristine forest lands.”

Roger Singer, of the Sierra Club in Seattle, joined the chorus, saying, “This is not a roadless area conservation rule; it is a road creation rule.”

Our worst fear is that they will turn out to be right. On the other hand, Clinton acted with an extremely broad brush less than two weeks before leaving office when he signed the roadless area rule that has now been rendered moot. There could well be pockets within the 58.5 million acres that are appropriate for logging or mining.

Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, of Idaho, called the new rule a “much better process for managing forests.” It puts governors and local managers of national forests in the thick of the decision-making process about these lands. We like Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire’s consider-all-options approach to the new rule that gives governors a voice in what becomes of federal forest lands in their states. “We hope to have most, if not all, of our national forest roadless areas in Washington protected,” Democrat Gregoire said. “We will analyze the rule and its impact on Washington.”