U.S. to Open Remote Forests To Logging. 58.5 Million Acres Involved Are Mostly in West, Alaska. But 63,000 Ga. acres affected by new rule.
The Bush administration, in one of its biggest environmental decisions, moved yesterday to open nearly one-third of all remote national forest lands to road building, logging and other commercial ventures.
The 58.5 million acres involved, mainly in Alaska and in western states, had been put off limits to development by President Bill Clinton eight days before he left office in January 2001.
Governors have 18 months to submit petitions to the U.S. Forest Service to challenge either the old plans to stop development, or to call for new plans to allow it.
(5-6-05, The Washington Post.)
According to the AJC, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has not said what approach he would take with respect to the new rule that will allow the building of roads in many of the most remote, pristine areas of the country's national forests — and open them to logging and mining.
The AJC notes:
In Georgia, the rule will affect 63,000 acres of the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest in the northern part of the state. One such tract is the 8,350-acre Kelly Ridge roadless area straddling the Appalachian Trail near the mountain town of Helen, about 120 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. A high, wild and rugged area, it is adjacent to the 9,700-acre Tray Mountain Wilderness Area and harbors one of Georgia's largest old-growth forests.
Officials with the Department of Agriculture, which encompasses the U.S. Forest Service, said the rule was intended, in part, to protect national forests and adjacent private property from wildfires by providing access into the forests to fight the blazes.
According to the Washington Post article noted above:
"Yesterday, nearly 60 million acres of national forests were protected, and today as a result of deliberate action by the administration they are not," said Robert Vandermark, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, run by a coalition of environment groups. "The Bush administration plan is a 'leave no tree behind' policy that paves the way for increased logging, drilling and mining in some of our last wild areas."
The 58.5 million acres involved, mainly in Alaska and in western states, had been put off limits to development by President Bill Clinton eight days before he left office in January 2001.
Governors have 18 months to submit petitions to the U.S. Forest Service to challenge either the old plans to stop development, or to call for new plans to allow it.
(5-6-05, The Washington Post.)
According to the AJC, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has not said what approach he would take with respect to the new rule that will allow the building of roads in many of the most remote, pristine areas of the country's national forests — and open them to logging and mining.
The AJC notes:
In Georgia, the rule will affect 63,000 acres of the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest in the northern part of the state. One such tract is the 8,350-acre Kelly Ridge roadless area straddling the Appalachian Trail near the mountain town of Helen, about 120 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. A high, wild and rugged area, it is adjacent to the 9,700-acre Tray Mountain Wilderness Area and harbors one of Georgia's largest old-growth forests.
Officials with the Department of Agriculture, which encompasses the U.S. Forest Service, said the rule was intended, in part, to protect national forests and adjacent private property from wildfires by providing access into the forests to fight the blazes.
According to the Washington Post article noted above:
"Yesterday, nearly 60 million acres of national forests were protected, and today as a result of deliberate action by the administration they are not," said Robert Vandermark, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, run by a coalition of environment groups. "The Bush administration plan is a 'leave no tree behind' policy that paves the way for increased logging, drilling and mining in some of our last wild areas."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 5:40 AM
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