http://www.wilderness-sportsman.com/
This is a big one, folks. This is a bi-partisan bill and it's purpose is to protect the last rare remaining roadless national forest lands. These are the most wild, pristine and scenic lands we have in the country, bar none. Ever been to a scenic mountain or forest setting? Chances are you were on national forest land or it was very close by. And chances are a roadless area was at the center of it. These lands provide drinking water for 60 million Americans.
Here's how it works: Places without roads ( currently only in national parks , national forest and BLM roadless areas) have the best air quality, the best water quality, the highest number of rare species, the best hunting, the best fishing, the best wild outdoor recreation, the least light pollution, and the least noise pollution. These roadless portions of national forests act like "buffers" to the rest of the national forests and parks, acting as reservoirs of wildness to all lands that surround these wild roadless cores. They are without question the most important aspect of land conservation in the United States. Once roadbuilding and mining occur in these areas, water quality declines, invasive plant and animal species increase, poaching increases, and the haibtat is fragmented. Roads cause erosion and silting of pristine mountain streams. The logging that follows the roads does this as well, and hurts rare species. As an example , the rare lynx is perfectly suited to roadless national forest lands because it has huge paws that allow it to hunt in the deepest, wildest forests in the winter time. When roads enter an area, this allows for a compacted snow condition that allows coyotes and foxes to enter lynx habitat and compete with them for snowshoe hare, etc. Anyway, that is just one example.
These wild roadless cores are the "heart" of the national park and national forest system. Without them, everything would fade. Also consider that these national forest lands provide a tiny fraction of our annual timber supply while continuing to lose millions ever year. See http://www.taxpayer.net/.... .
Here is a map of the last wilderness areas in the country courtesy of wilderness.net. These don't show unprotected wilderness areas. In order to gauge that, think of very small attachments to the already protected areas (especially in the west):
http://www.wilderness.net/....
Wether you like to hunt, fish, raft, kayak, birdwatch, hike, or just swim, roadless national foret and park lands have no peer. They are simply the top of the experience that you will find in those pursuits.
These areas also provide 60 million Americans with clean drinking water. They also act as "air filters" for the nations air.
In the late 90's, Bill Clinton and his Forest Service chief created a plan to finally protect these last national forest roadless areas. It was called "the Roadless Initiatve". There were 600 local national forest community town hall meetings. there was 10 years of study. There were several offical comment periods. Overall, around 2 million comments were received, with 90% favoring the plan. At last we would see all the lawsuits and battles over roadless national forest land end. At last, we would have a balance on national forest land, with around 50 percent set aside as roadless wildlands, and the other 50% open to mining, logging, motors, etc.
But all that changed. How fast did it change? How about several hours after Bush was innaugurated? Freezing the Roadless Rule in the federal registry was the first thing GWB did after becoming president.
See, George's campaign contributors didn't want to lose the huge welfare program they were getting on our last wild public lands. The taxpayers pay for the most expensive part of these logging activites - building the roads through the last wildlands. And George has always been a "worker" of the land, seduced by the "wise use" crowd which uses off road vehicle groups and some gullible sportsmen as fronts for industry. They use them as wedges to keep roadless areas open to roads. They use talking points like "locking the public out of their lands" , "wise use", "multiple use", etc. The problem with that is roadless areas and wilderness allow hunting, fishing, hiking, rafting, kayaking, etc . The claim by industy backed "grass roots" groups like the Blue Ribbon Coalition are nothing more than well crafted talking points with no basis in fact or reality. They will use whatever it takes to keep the last roadless areas open to roadbuilding, logging and mining. They don't want the free ride to end.
And when a lumber company in Idaho sued the U.S. over the roadless plan, the Bush administration didn't even show up to court. Instead, a single one paragraph piece of paper was sent to "defend" the roadless rules. Needless to say, the Roadless Initiative lost that particular court ruling.
George W Bush, hit with a backlash of outrage over his freezing the rule, said he was going to "fix it". The White House ordered a couple more comment periods. The results were the same: keep roadless areas wild and roadless. And not surprisingly, the Bush administrations response to that was to shut down the national forest public comments office in Missoula Montana. Not surprisingly, the Bush administrations actions emulated the wishes of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. As part of this, the Bush administration crafted the "healthy forests plan" which in turn officialy ended public involvement and comments on logging projects under 1000 acres. This of course would be applied on national forest roadless lands far from local communities. A judge actually ruled the Bush admin had "circumvented the law" in cutting out public involvement on a Bitterroot national forest case (Montana).
The Blue Ribbon Coalition founder also created another group, called "WARC"(wilderness act reform coalition) which has, as it's mission statements the plan to "finally do something about the wilderness act". These plans include opening up congressionaly designated wilderness areas to logging, mining and roadbuiling. Truly a radical group if there ever was one.
Finally, after trying to hack away at the original Roadless Rule the best they could, the Bush administration completely removed the rule, implementing it's own. In the Bush administrations rule, the states had to decide what should be left roadless and what should not. Of course, the states complained because they didn't have the budget for such an undertaking. Amusingly, I think we all know that was the point. But if you thought the governors would have final say , think again. The governors recommendations would be submitted to a "special panel" that would really decide what gets kept roadless and what does not. And surprise surprise,a Blue Ribbon Coalition representative is on that panel.
Almost all of the litigation battles over national forest actions have to do with roadless areas. The original plan would have settled this once and for all. And so here we are with a bi-partisan bill that finally enacts the original roadless rule from Clinton's final term. The roadless issue on our public lands is quite honestly the most important conservation issue today. It's bigger than ANWR by a large margin. It is the core of all great outdoor activity and environmental quality in our great, pioneering nation. How can we fix and repair environmental damage done around this country if we can't even make sure that the most rare, pristine places will stay that way? I don't know abot you folks, but I don't have 300 fingers to plug all the leaking holes in the dam. Lets keep whats wild, wild, and then we can more easily repair damage done in less wild areas.
Please support the Roadless Conservation Act of 2005. This is about the American Spirit. It's about telling Georgie Porgie that he wont get our last wildlands, that our kids and their kids will get them*, to stil be able to enjoy a quiet, star filled night sky, with grizzly bears, wolves and wolverines still roaming the cool woods and mountain tops. That's America. This is for our grandkids who want to do more than play Nintendo or Playstation, who want clean air and clean drinking water. Our great nation still has a good amount of wildlands , It's what sets us apart from Europe and other short sighted countries who lacked the foresight to set aside their natural heritage for future generations. America is better than that. We always have been.
Once in awhile, I think about the people that explored this country, how they went from river to river, plain to plain, mountain to mountain with an American spirit of exploration. We still have that in our blood. Some of those wild, pristine places still exist. That's a part of this country, just as much as the Washington Monument or the Golden Gate Bridge.
Tell everyone you know about the Roadless Conservation Act of 2005. Lets get some support for this bill. Lets right a wrong. Lets keep American monuments wild. Lets show the extremists in congress that the American people have spoken, and they want their wildlands to stay wild.
But better yet, lets show our great grandkids that we weren't selfish assholes.
Maybe, just maybe when they go off on a camping trip or a rafting trip they will look up and still see a sky filled with stars, a place where grizzly bears still exist, where bighorn sheep still look down from the mountain sides, and where wolverines still scamper on 11,000 foot mountain tops in the dead of an icy winter nights sky. And maybe they will think "those folks from the beginning of the century did us right by keeping these places intact".
Maybe.
contact URL for your congressmen:
http://www.congress.org/....
To learn more about our rare roadless areas and to keep up to date on the never ending fight, please check out these sites:
http://www.wilderness.net/
http://www.wilderness-sportsman.com/
http://wildmontana.org/
http://www.forwolves.org/....
http://www.ourforests.org/
http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/
http://www.sierraclub.org/