Unroaded Wildlands Now Open for Logging - Bush Administration Exempts Alaska's Tongass National Forest from Roadless Rule. Your Letters Needed Now.

One day before Christmas Eve, late in the afternoon of December 23, 2003, the Bush Administration officially exempted Alaska's Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Effectively sidelining the largest showing of public support for any previous Forest Service proposal, the Bush team announced its plans to also allow governors of the lower 48 states to exempt federal lands from the Roadless Rule.

The exemption of the Tongass from the Roadless Rule endangers unroaded wildlands in our nation's largest tracts of temperate rainforest, with similar results soon to follow for Alaska's Chugach and other National Forests across the contiguous US. Already, governors of several states -- including Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Maine Gov. John Baldacci and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson - have sent letters to the Bush administration opposing the disintegration of roadless area protection and the Tongass Roadless Rule exemption. In addition, 115 major corporations including REI, Black Diamond, Kelty, Marmot, and Montrail have made public statements supporting the protection of roadless areas. Of the 250,000 comments previously collected from the Tongass exemption comment period, only 2,000 comments -- less than 1% of the total comments -- were in favor of exempting the Tongass from the Roadless Rule.

They're your National Forests too -- Speak up for roadless area protection, send a letter today.
Please send a letter to Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, your state governor, and your local newspapers urging that the Forest Service uphold protection of roadless wildlands in the Tongass, Chugach, and other National Forests across the nation. Ask that the original intent and purpose of the Roadless Rule be upheld, and that values besides timber, such as non-motorized recreation and wildlife preservation, be honored in our unprotected roadless areas.

Contact Information -- Write, Email, or call Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth

Dale Bosworth, Chief USDA, Forest Service
PO Box 96090
Washington, DC 20090

email: dbosworth@fs.fed.us
Phone: (202) 205-1305, Alaska Affairs Desk

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The newspaper articles linked below provide background information to include in your letter.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003, Pasadena Star-News
"Bush should gift pristine lands to Americans, not contributors"
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206%257E11851%257E1863368,00.html

Monday, December 29, 2003: Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor
"Spare those trees"
http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/recent2003/tongass122903%5F2003.shtml

Sunday, December 28, 2003: Lakeland (Florida) Ledger
"Flying Under Santa's Sleigh"
Click here

ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS/SUPPORT FOR ROADLESS RULE

… The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is the result of the most extensive public rulemaking in history and enjoys overwhelming support from the majority of Americans. Of the 250,000 comments previously collected from the Tongass exemption comment period, only 2,000 comments -- less than 1% of the total comments -- were in favor of exempting the Tongass from the Roadless Rule.

… Wood-product businesses do NOT need or want timber from the Tongass forest. "More than 2 million public comments have been submitted to the Forest Service to include the Tongass in the [Road less] Rule. Staples supports those comments and respectfully requests that the Forest Service put the Tongass off limits to industrial scale logging and road building. National treasures such as the Tongass are a national trust which must be preserved for future generations and we strongly believe that granting any exemptions will threaten that trust."

-- Mark F. Buckley, VP Environmental Affairs, Staples, RT 1602, August 8, 2003

"Hayward Lumber is an 84- year old, fourth-generation, family operated building materials dealer with seven locations on California's Central Coast. With $120 million in annual sales we are one of the 75 largest building material dealers in the United States. As much of our wealth is derived from forests, we see great value in preserving remaining roadless areas for their inherent ecological and aesthetic values-an interest we feel we share with the majority of Americans. While the Tongass and the Chugach National Forests represent some relatively easy pickings from a timber perspective, the building industry does not need or want to see this wood in our supply chain."

-- Steven Brauneis, Director of Sustainability, Hayward Lumber, RT 1667, August 8, 2003

… The Roadless Rule is important to recreational businesses and their customers. "We urge the Forests Service to uphold the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, without any reduction in the acreage of protected lands, as this ensures that these important recreational lands remain available to the American public. The rule also makes economic sense as recreation accounts for more than 85 percent of the revenue from National Forests."

-- Michael Collins, Vice President Public Affairs, on behalf of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), August 28, 2003

Logging the Tongass Forest hurts the local tourism and fishing industry. "I own a family operated, fly fishing business that employs 11 local residents each season. Both my business and those jobs depend on pristine wild areas and streams for their continued success, The Roadless Rule would safeguard many of the locations we presently use and that are enjoyed by some 1300 of our clients each season."

-- Mark Kaelke, President, Bear Creek Outfitters, Juneau, AK, RT 3723, August 10, 2003

Unroaded forests are essential for the viability of salmon fisheries. "As a permanent forest service employee who works on the Tongass National Forest I am ashamed of you and your administrations attempt to overturn the January 2001 Roadless Rule. As a professional fisheries biologist I am disillusioned at your apparent disregard of comments of the Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, a chapter of the oldest professional fisheries organization in North America, that supported the 2001 Roadless Rule.

--James M. Beard, Thorne Bay, AK, RT 5649, September 1, 2003

… The $8.4 billion roads maintenance backlog should be addressed before building new roads in National Forest roadless areas. "Wildlife Forever is the nonprofit conservation arm of the North American Hunting Club and North American Fishing Club who together have 1.3 million members. . . . In short, the value of intact natural resources of the Tongass' roadless areas greatly exceeds the value of these forest tracts for logging. The dismal record of timber road culverts becoming fish impassable and the mindless pattern of spending taxpayer subsidies to clearcut towering old growth trees flies in the face of sound forestry and America's wildlife legacy."

-- Douglas H. Grann, President & CEO, Wildlife Forever, Brooklyn Center, MN, August 12, 2003

… The Bush administration should keep their promise to uphold the Roadless Rule. "Just over two years ago, Agriculture Secretary Anne Veneman said, 'providing roadless protection for our national forests is the right thing to do, and because it's the right thing to do, it's important to do it right, for the land, for people, for communities, for states, and for the country as a whole.' I strongly agree and urge you to embrace and implement the Roadless Rule as it was issued in January, 2001."

-- Elizabeth Moorehaed, Eagle River, AK, RT 1871, August 13, 2003

… Alaska's Tongass National Forest is America's largest rainforest - our crown jewel. "The Tongass and the Chugach are crown jewels in the national forest system, home to awe inspiring landscapes, undamaged ecosystems, and world class recreational opportunities. Proposals to spoil these treasures with roads and logging ignore the wishes of the vast majority of American's like me who support the protection of roadless areas in all of our national forests."

-- Theodore Cochrane, Madison, WI, RT 6077, August 7, 2003