Bush clear-cuts a forest plan

Abandonment of federal conservation rules for 58 million acres of pristine national forests defies public opinion, insults the environment and pummels the treasury.

Congressional disenchantment with heavy federal subsidies for the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of commercial logging roads was one push behind the President Bill Clinton-era rules. Indeed, the proximity of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to the last president seems to be the only reason the current administration worked so hard to ditch the rules. They were the product of three years of work by the U.S. Forest Service to end expensive road-building in remote forests in 38 states, but primarily in 12 Western states. The rules, shaped by hundreds of public meetings and more than a million written comments, sought to balance local concerns.

The policy was subject to management plans at individual national forests, and worked to sustain existing patterns of recreation, grazing and hunting and fishing. So-called stewardship logging allowed for some harvest and road-building to deal with wildfire hazards, habitat improvements and unique ecological circumstances.

Instead, the rollback opens up tens of millions of acres of timberland to logging and commercial ventures. Governors can oppose the removal of roadless protections on federal land in their states or cheer them, although the final decision rests with the Forest Service. An element of protecting federal forests is now subject to the whims of political turnover in state capitals.

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