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White House Plan Could Increase Logging in National Forests

The Bush Administration announced a new plan last week that could open up national forests to more logging.

Unveiling the new proposal on July 12 in Boise, ID, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman said that it would give states a major role in deciding how their roadless areas are managed in the future.

The rule would replace a regulation issued by the Clinton Administration that has restricted logging and banned road building on more than 58 million acres of national forests stretching across 38 states.

Since its enactment on Jan. 12, 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been the subject of nine separate lawsuits in seven different states involving at least 12 federal judges. In July of 2003, the federal district court in Wyoming issued an injunction barring its enforcement.

The 12 most-affected states — which contain 97% of all roadless areas in the country — are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

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NAHB has opposed the roadless rule because it mandates inflexible federal restrictions on millions of acres of forestland and illegally attempts to reverse existing federal forestry management and environmental policy laws.

Furthermore, NAHB believes that the federal government alone does not have the expertise to establish specific planning guidelines for the thousands of individual localities and forestry areas across the nation. Forestry management decisions regarding the necessary infrastructure for community development should include input by local officials.

Secretary Veneman said that the new proposal is aimed at meeting five conservation-related goals:

• Making informed decisions to ensure that the rule is implemented with more reliable information and accurate mapping, including local expertise and experience
• Working with states, tribes, local communities and the public through a process that is fair, open and responsive to local input and information
• Protecting forests to ensure that the potential negative effects of severe wildfire, insect and disease activity are addressed
• Protecting communities, homes and property from the risk of severe wildfire and other risks that might exist on adjacent federal lands
• Ensuring that states, tribes and private citizens who own property within roadless areas have access to their property as required by existing law

The proposal is subject to a 60-day comment period once it appears in the Federal Register. If adopted, governors would have 18 months to develop state plans that affect their roadless areas.

During this period, an interim directive would be placed in effect that requires Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth to conserve those roadless areas that were covered by the 2001 rule.

For further information, e-mail Christopher Galik at NAHB or call him at 800-368-5242 x8663.
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