Around the West this winter, citizens flocked to
Forest Service “listening sessions,” part of an initial scoping
process to collect comments on President Clinton’s October
directive to protect roadless forests (HCN,
11/8/99).
Conservationists dominated regional
meetings held in 10 cities, including Portland, Missoula, Salt Lake
City and Albuquerque. Many supported the Oregon-based Heritage
Forest Campaign: “Our message is simple,” says campaign leader Ken
Rait. “Protect all roadless areas greater than 1,000 acres in all
national forests from any kind of destructive activity.” That could
be as much as 60 to 80 million acres.
The message
was more complicated at meetings held at national forest
headquarters in rural areas. While Clinton’s proposal was welcomed
with open arms by most people who attended a Bitterroot National
Forest meeting in Hamilton, Mont., at a Flathead forest meeting in
Kalispell, conservationists were shouted
down.
“This is a much bigger issue in the small
towns in the West,” says Winema National Forest spokesman Frank
Erickson. About 60 people packed a meeting in Klamath Falls, Ore.,
in spite of a story in the local newspaper urging folks to stay
home and watch the football game because the Forest Service had
already made up its mind. Many expressed concern that more
protection would kill a proposed ski area on Pelican Butte (HCN,
2/2/98).
“There was a real concern that the
federal government is usurping a long and involved local planning
process,” says Erickson.
Cindy Chojnacky,
spokeswoman for the Forest Service’s Roadless Involvement Team in
Washington, D.C., says the loudest criticism of the plan is coming
not from the timber industry, but from off-road vehicle drivers,
who say the plan will cut off access.
But many
people were confused about the process, Chojnacky adds. “I was
surprised how many people perceived that it was a vote on
wilderness or not. We don’t designate wilderness. Only Congress can
do that.” Instead, the Forest Service is working on a new set of
rules that may or may not ban future logging and off-road vehicle
use. “We’re really looking at the future of areas that have never
been accessed,” she says.
The public will have
another chance to comment on the proposal, when the Forest Service
finishes a draft environmental impact statement. The president
asked the agency to complete a final EIS by the end of 2000, but
opponents such as Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig have vowed to
stall the process until a new president takes office in
2001.
* Greg
Hanscom
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Westerners take sides on road ban.
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