State joins federal suit on roadless-area work
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Oregon, California and New Mexico sued the U.S. Forest Service Tuesday over the Bush administration’s decision to allow logging and development in roadless federal lands, including part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in San Francisco.
In May, the Forest Service repealed a 2001 policy by the Clinton administration that forbade logging and road construction on 58 million acres of remote public lands. The new Bush administration rule allows governors to petition for restoring those protections in their respective states.
But Gov. Ted Kulongoski said the policy violates the National Environmental Protection Act.
The new rule "will require states to assume the responsibility of repeating the process that the federal government went through before the 2001 roadless rule was adopted," Kulongoski said in a statement. "At the same time, the 2005 rule provides no guarantee that Oregon’s recommendations will be followed on the ground."
He has pledged to protect 1.9 million acres of Oregon’s roadless areas by challenging the Bush administration’s policy and petitioning the government to adopt a streamlined process for seeking protections for roadless areas.
- S. Department of Agriculture officials said the courts have already ruled against the Clinton administration’s policy.
"This lawsuit is unfortunate and unnecessary," said Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey in a statement.
"... We are providing interim protection to roadless areas, pending the development of state-specific rules provided for in our 2005 rule-making."
About 365,500 acres in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest are classified roadless by the Forest Service. More than 8,100 acres of those, burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire, are earmarked for logging, but no timber sales have yet been made, said Patty Burel, spokeswoman for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
Local conservation groups praised the governor’s decision to sue.
Roadless areas provide a refuge for wildlife and protect water quality, they said.
"We welcome this decision," said Dominick DellaSala of Ashland-based World Wildlife Fund. "It illustrates the continuing conflict between the Bush administration and the core values of the public (to protect roadless areas)."
Joseph Vaile of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland said the governor should also file a petition seeking protection for Oregon’s roadless areas.
"Who knows how long it will take for the lawsuit to be resolved?" Vaile said. "In the meantime, we need to take other steps to protect roadless forests."
Mike Carrier, Kulongoski’s natural resource adviser, said the governor has not ruled out that option.
Timber industry representatives said they disagree with the lawsuit.
"The purpose of the Bush administration’s rule was to let the governor work in conjunction with the Forest Service to manage roadless areas to prevent fires, attack fires and keep ladder fuels and dense brush down to the point where fires don’t burn so severely," said David Schott, executive vice president of Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association.
Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4496 or e-mail
