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Executive Summary
After
decades of scientific inquiry, 600 public hearings, and a record 1.6 million
comments from the American public, the Clinton administration issued the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule in January 2001. The Roadless Rule, as it is commonly known,
originally protected 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land from most
commercial logging and road-building, and associated mining and drilling. Since then, the Bush administration has removed
these protections from 9.5 million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass
National Forest.
For
the remaining 49 million acres of America’s last wild national forests, the
2001 Roadless Rule ensures that they will continue to provide clean drinking
water for millions of Americans, wildlife habitat, endless recreational
opportunities, and other important values.
The rule also compels the U.S. Forest Service to address the estimated
$10.3 billion backlog in needed maintenance for existing roads, instead of
using taxpayer dollars to build new roads.
The
American people have spoken in favor of protecting roadless areas within our
national forests. Including all public comment
periods, Florida residents submitted 148,095 comments, with the overwhelming
majority of them in favor of protecting the state’s 50,000 acres of roadless forests.
The
strong public support for protecting roadless areas can be understood by
looking at their economic and ecological values:
- Sixty million Americans rely on drinking water
from national forests. Roadless areas,
because of their pristine condition, provide some of the purest sources of
these essential water supplies. In the Southern Forest Service Region, which includes Florida,
drinking water is worth $295.8 million
annually.
- Recreation in national forests has become more and more popular
over time as Americans participate in activities from bicycling and hiking to
fishing and hunting. In 2006, 4.6 million Florida
residents took part in hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching; that same year, wildlife-related recreation contributed
$7.9 billion
to the state economy.
- Some of the most unspoiled habitat for threatened, endangered, and
declining species is found in roadless areas.
Florida’s national forests are home to 14 at-risk species that could be harmed by
destruction of roadless areas.
Despite
the many benefits national forests provide, historically, their value has been
measured solely by the timber products they produce. Through subsidies to the timber industry and
road construction at taxpayers’ expense, the Forest Service has sold timber
from national forest land to timber companies at such a low price that the
agency loses millions of dollars each year.
More
recently, the Bush administration has fought to dismantle the 2001 Roadless
Rule and to open these pristine lands to development. This threatens not only the ecological value
of these lands but the revenue provided by those who participate in
recreational activities in our last wild national forests. For hunters, hikers, and campers alike, the
wild characteristics of these untouched lands are what draw them to our
national forests. The 2001 Roadless Rule
ensures that communities that rely on income from recreation in these last wild
national forests will continue to have it for years to come. After all, national forest roadless areas
belong to all Americans and deserve federal protection.
The
Bush administration’s attack on the Roadless Rule is in keeping with their
other numerous harmful policies, such as the so-called “Healthy Forests”
initiative, which increases logging and removes environmental safeguards under
the guise of preventing forest fires.
In
the short term, the timber companies, mining companies, and energy companies
that support the Bush administration’s policies stand to benefit from attacks
on protections for roadless forests, making millions at taxpayers’
expense. However, it is the long term losses
to the American public that we need to consider. Roadless areas are among the nation’s
greatest natural assets and their ecological and economic value is too great to
sacrifice. Our last wild national
forests should be protected once and for all.
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