Bush Administration Opens National Forests to Roads

[kerrygoddess]

Bush Administration Opens National Forests to Roads, Logging and More
5 May 2005


In yet another blow to the environment under the Bush administration, the way has been paved for road building, logging and commercial ventures on nearly one third of all National Forest lands. The K Street lobbyists for logging and mining companies have obviously been very, very busy greasing the wheels and whatever else necessary.

The 58.5 million acres involved, mainly in Alaska and in western states, had been put off limits to development by former President Clinton, eight days before he left office in January 2001.

Under existing local forest management plans, some 34.3 million acres of these pristine woodlands could be opened to road construction. That would be the first step in allowing logging, mining and other industry and wider recreational uses of the land. Under proposed rules, new management plans have to be written for the other 24.2 million acres before road building can commence.

More & Links: http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=841

[Carolab]

1. Oh, Christ.

These people are unforgivable.

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. I hate this

almost more tham anything they have done


will there ultimately be NOTHING left for us, and our children?

[montana500]

27. by far the worst

no question.

[FloridaPat]

3. Under Reagan & Bush I the US gov't paid for the roads. Are we stuck

with the bill again? We pay for the roads, these guys cut the trees down and pay around $2-3 for one tree and turn around and sell them for $20,000 (the big ones).

[quaoar]

5. Oh no. It costs a lot more than that

There are the contributions to the RNC, the contributions to Bush/Cheney, providing corporate jets and picking up the tab for fact-finding vacations for Tom DeLay, etc. etc. Lots of overhead involved.

[FloridaPat]

7. Sorry never saw those figures in the news media.

[quaoar]

4. Oh good

Now the timber companies can sell all our trees to China and Japan. I was starting to worry about the profit margins of our timber companies.

And this will make it a lot easier for me to poach wildlife. I can just shoot my AK-47 out the window of my Hummer.

And all the silt from the treeless, eroded hillsides will clog streams and rivers and make it a lot easier to catch the salmon because they'll be dying on the river bank.

Oh Boy. Can't wait.

[Coexist]

19. I like your glass-half-full outlook on this

I was almost sad until I read your post, now I'm psyched. I'm gonna go slap a magnetic ribbon on my SUV now.

[tex-wyo-dem]

6. I really, really hate this criminal administration...

Welcome to the American Dark Ages.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BillZBubb]

8. Well if they can't build roads, they can't get the lumber out!

Don't you see, Bush is doing it for us? Why do you hate America?

[hollowdweller]

45. Actually they can do helicopter logging which saves on roads

The only problem is that it costs them more. They do it around here when the timber is really valuable and the cost of building a logging road is too much.

I own 85 acres and I don't intend to have my place logged. But if I ever do have to sell any of my trees I am hoping the price of lumber will have gone up enough for me to be able to stipulate that it be done by helicopter.

[ClintonTyree]

9. And I will guarantee..

that this lumber will be exported and sold. It will not remain in our country to shore up short supplies of building materials. It will not reduce the sky rocketing prices of lumber in our own country. It will be exported and sold in Japan at prices that will make the lumber companies very, very wealthy.

The lumber companies bought and paid for these republican's, specifically george bush's, influence in the form of hefty campaign contributions. Now they're collecting what they consider their due. The "Healthy Forests Initiative" they call it. I call it an obscene waste of our precious natural resources. These old growth forests WILL NOT grow back within the next two generations, if at all. Once the balance of nature is upset it takes more time to heal itself than it did to propagate in the first place.

The bush administration is waging a full, frontal assault on everything that we've taken the pains to protect over the years. Not only the forests, but the skies, social programs, education...you name it, the bush administration wants to dismantle it. All for money, all for greed. They are the Gordon Gecko's of the world. Greed is good. That is their mantra, their outlook on life. To hell with everybody that is unlucky enough to follow in their clear cut paths.

They are the scum of the earth and when it comes time for their final resting place within the earth's folds, I hope it has the ability to spit them back out, persona non grata.

[quaoar]

10. But it won't matter

Because the Rapture is coming soon so we won't need all those trees.

[ClintonTyree]

14. Oh yeah...

I forgot all about the impending "rapture". How silly of me. Never mind. ;)

[Oldtimeralso]

24. impending "rapture"

What do you mean impending, just tell the fundies it happened last tuesday and both "good" people were taken

[newyawker99]

42. Hi Oldtimeralso!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Vickers]

11. Are they calling it The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Habitat Preservation Act?

That's about their style. :eyes:

[maxsolomon]

12. build roads WHERE?

at least in washington state, if it isn't already in a wilderness area, there's a logging road there.

[Straight Shooter]

13. I moved to the Northwest for the forests, not for the g'damn roads.

It's bad enough already with the overbuilding, all you ever hear are chainsaws mowing down trees so big fat f*cking ego houses can be built for big fat f*cking corporate hogs and raise everyone else's property tax that is just trying to get by.

Dammit, I just came in from a hike in the mountains and I am furious at this. Is there nothing sacred? Do they call this pristine wilderness "God's country" for nothing?

[Deaniac1]

15. Backpack it out...

They oughta make the loggers carry out the timber on their backsides. And what other recreational purposes are they talking about? I assume they want to get more motorized vehicles in the park so the boats can be bigger and pollute more and the four-wheelers can run over all the critters. This is an absolute shame.

[newyawker99]

43. Hi Deaniac1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[manly]

16. Bush

I just have to get this out of my system.
God, how I HATE that FUCKING Bush!
Okay, I feel better now.

[ananda]

17. question

I'm really pissed, but I'm also confused.

Where does the pResident get the power to do this? Shouldn't voters and environmentalists have considerable influence here?

HOW CAN HE JUST DO THAT!!??

Sue

[kerrygoddess]

23. I'm not sure either

I heard on NPR it was something that had been pending.

[cestpaspossible]

18. If you've seen one tree you've seen them all.

Didn't Reagan say something like that?

[IChing]

20. Your state's data is

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=23409&mesg_id=23417

Notice Texas is 4,000 acres and California is 4,000,000 acres
call and write your govenor

[Up2Late]

21. I REALLY think * only does this crap to see how many Democrats he...

...can piss off. What an Asshole.:mad:

And because I'm sure Sen. Ted Stevens(R) is most likely behind this, I like to repeate what Jon Stewart said about him the other night...

<>

"Hey, Fuck that guy."

:nuke:

[TwentyFive]

22. They gotta prop up the weak economy -- and skyrocketing trade deficit!

Selling all the lumbar to China, India & Japan will make our miserable, expanding trade deficit, exporting of jobs look a little less worse. Bush will do anything to hide the true suffering that is going on in this country.

The freepers, fascists, pseudo christians will think their hero * is working his magic on the economy.

[CelticWinter]

25. Well there goes the neighborhood

I live surrounded by the Alleghany National Forest, and its bad enough now the government uses it for nothing more than a mammoth tree farm, can hardly wait to see what they do to it next. Cut down the virgin timber! Rape the land, drive the wildlife into the towns for what, making some asshole richer than needed.
Nothing like getting screwed and not kissed cuz that is all this administration seems to do.

[leftyclimber]

28. The idea with roadless areas in the first place...

... which existed PRIOR TO the Wilderness Act of 1964, was that there were areas set aside by the Forest Service for "study" of ecosystems and how they worked. (Don't have the date handy offhand, but it was a fair bit before that.) Many of these areas became federally declared Wilderness Areas after the WA was passed, others were still considered important to increase scientific understanding of ecology.

As I understand it, these set-aside areas were never officially declared "perma-roadless" until Clinton said the word and the official Roadless Rule was passed. The idea being that these roadless areas had greater potential to become "capital-W" (federally declared) Wilderness. Which, BTW, is about 1.8% of federally owned lands. Yup, a measly 1.8%.

There's no way in hell that ANYTHING short of a barren wasteland with no oil, natural gas, coal, trees (you get the idea) is going to be declared a Wilderness under this joke of a government. So why bother with the roadless areas, eh? :cry:

[newyawker99]

44. Hi leftyclimber!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[sandnsea]

32. You have next to no virgin timber

The NCT Trail and maybe a few other pockets. Most of the trees in that area were cut down by the early 1900's.

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/anf/pathway.htm

http://www.old-growth.org/nfstatus.html

[montana500]

29. some facts

1. only 4-7 percent of our annual timber consumption comes from national forest lands

2. these 58 million acres are the last wildlands in the country, *period*.

3. These lands are also usually the most scenic, the most pollution free, and have the most completelarray of flora and fauna

4. these lands don't even make up 2% of our country

5. They offer the best hiking, fishing, hunting, camping and wildlife watching lands in the nation

6. They are worth far more money INTACT (because roadless areas are so rare) than roaded.

7.They make up 1/3 of our national forest system

8. they are irreplacable

here is a map:

[kerrygoddess]

30. Great post...

Wonderful data and map! Thanks so much.

[montana500]

31. that map is interactive

click on a state too zom in . Here is the page it's located on:

http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS

[sandnsea]

33. RA's aren't wilderness

He isn't talking about opening wilderness, just Roadless Areas. There's a difference, particularly in places like Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah & Colorado. We shouldn't have any areas opened on the west coast or eastern states, but if we could have honest sustainable logging, it's worth talking about in those other states. If we had an honest administration, which we don't.

[montana500]

34. roadless areas are wilderness technically

most of the national forest lands are already OPEN to logging and mining, over 50%.

So what he is doing is trying to ruin the last wildlands, like I originally said. You should edit your post, because wilderness doesnt become WILDERNESS unless it's a roadless areas.

The USFS lands only provide for 4-7% of our annual timber supply, and the already roaded national forest lands are open to sustainable logging. There is no reason to degrade the water quality and habitat of the last wild national forest lands by building more roads - especially since we already have a 10 billion$ USFS road maintenance backlog.

[sandnsea]

39. No, I shouldn't

You put up a map of wilderness areas, implying that was the land that was being opened. It isn't. The roadless areas, which are separate, are the ones in question. The distinction is important.

I don't support this action, but I'm not going to misrepresent the facts about it. I'm also not going to pretend the situation in Montana is the same as the situation in Tennessee, it isn't. And just for one more little fact, I know some of those roadless areas aren't roadless at all. Some of those colored in areas in the Bitterroots have roads all over them. I lived there for 8 years and drove all over them.

We also don't implement best use sustainable logging on all forest service lands either. There are some private stands where people are changing their forest practices dramatically. The forest service still allows far too much land to be managed in a tree plantation fashion. Until they change, I won't support opening any land to logging.

[dusty64]

35. BASTARDS!

I can't think of anything else to say about these evil rat bastards at the moment. Every day a fresh hell!

[Disturbed]

36. Conservatives used to actually believe in ...

CONSERVATION. The Bush Junta does not believe in anything except $$$$.

[Callboy]

37. can we setup a coffee shop, roadside?

anyone?

[Q3JR4]

38. Oh My,

where am I going, and why am I in this hand basket?

[Knight of Ni]

40. ..And why is it so fucking hot????(n/m)

[kerrygoddess]

41. Please let us out of the handbasket!

:bounce: