05.10.02

Senators to Bush: Keep Your Promise to Implement Roadless Rule

WASHINGTON, DC - 25 Democratic Senators, including Majority Leader Tom Daschle, joined Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in calling on the Bush Administration to keeps its promise and immediately implement the Roadless Forest Protection Rule.

The letter comes one year after the Roadless Forest Protection Rule was to have been implemented. Cantwell said she would introduce legislation later this year to codify the rule.

The text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr. President,

A year ago, your Administration publicly promised to uphold and defend the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect 58.5 million acres of America's wild national forests from road-building.

In a news conference on May 4, 2001, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said:

"We're here today to announce the department's decision to uphold the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Through this action, we are reaffirming the Department of Agriculture's commitment to the important challenge of protecting roadless values."

But over the last year, your Administration has not kept its promise. The Forest Service has taken a number of actions that undermine the core protections offered by the rule--issuing several directives that, on a cumulative basis, negate protections for our national forests. Despite Attorney General Ashcroft's promise in his confirmation hearing to uphold the rule, the Administration has repeatedly failed to make a single argument in defense of it or even appear at all in the main legal challenge to the rule, and instead has issued "interim directives" that allow road building in direct contravention of the rule.

The Roadless Rule was the result of years of deliberation and the input of more than 1.6 million Americans. It is a balanced policy that allows for the continued management of roadless areas against catastrophic fire and other disturbances while also preserving these relatively limited acres of public forest lands as a legacy for our children. The Roadless Rule neither limits public access to existing roaded areas nor limits recreational opportunities throughout the forest land. Currently, our national forests contain over 383,000 miles of roads, many of which are in great disrepair. This policy allows the Forest Service to concentrate its efforts on addressing the $8.4 billion needed to maintain existing roads instead of constructing new roads that will add to the maintenance burden in the future.

The Roadless Rule protects our national forests in a sustainable manner to the benefit of all who seek to enjoy them, not only in this generation, but in generations to come. We believe that policies that promote new activities on these lands in a manner that will permanently diminish them are short-sighted, and contradicts what the American public wants, as well as the Administration's pledge to protect "roadless values."

The public has been waiting for a full year for the Administration to follow through on the promises of the Attorney General and the Secretary of Agriculture to uphold and defend the Roadless Rule and to preserve our national forests. Preserving America's national forests is a critical test of your commitment to environmental protection. We strongly encourage you to uphold and defend the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Sincerely,

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) Senator John Kerry (D-MA) Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) Senator John Edwards (D-NC) Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)