Some 50-million acres of our country’s wildest places will be protected for at least another year.
The Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has renewed rules that protect what are known as “roadless areas” from most types of logging, mining, road building and other development. The rules apply to roadless areas in National Forests and Grasslands.
In Oregon, this includes about 2-million acres.
Getting permanent protection for roadless areas is an important goal for environmental groups. President Clinton agreed, and in the final days of his administration released what’s known as the 2001 Roadless Rule.
When the Bush team took over, the Roadless Rule came under attack – leading to court fights – decisions by judges – and a huge legal mess. One federal judge sided with the Bush administration and its business allies, another upheld the Clinton rules.
So when the Obama Administration announced a year ago it would follow the Clinton rules on a temporary basis, environmental groups let out a sigh of relief.
Today’s decision by Vilsack keeps those rules in place for another year, while the legal mess makes its way through the appeals process.
The D-Bug Debacle
Last summer, the Umpqua National Forest proposed a plan for logging in a roadless area near Crater Lake National Park. Called the D-Bug Timber Sale, it allows various levels of logging on some 10,000 acres.The Forest Service says the logging is needed to prevent the spread of bark beetles and fires.
What has groups like Oregon Wild up in arms are plans to build 14-miles of new roads to support the logging, and logging on almost 1000 acres of official roadless areas.
In the past few months, a coalition of environmental and recreation groups have proposed an alternative logging plan.
