"Today, the Sierra Club applauds the states of California, New Mexico and Oregon for taking bold action to protect their states' National Forests. Earlier this year, the Bush administration formally repealed the landmark 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In its place they inserted a sham process requiring a multi-step unfunded mandate.

"These states recognize that under the administration's 2005 Roadless Rule, the Federal government is shirking its responsibility to protect America's few remaining roadless areas. These are areas of national significance and they deserve a single, nation-wide policy to protect them--not a piecemeal state-by-state approach.

"The original Roadless Rule was the product of exhaustive studies and scientific, economic and public input, including 600 public meetings. Unprecedented in its overwhelming popularity, the rule garnered 10 times more public comments than any federal rule in history. Sadly, the concerns of millions of Americans met deaf ears, while the administration hung on the words of a handful of timber industry lobbyists by hastily replacing the original rule with an ill-conceived plan that forces a convoluted process on governors and leaves America's last remaining wild forests at risk.

"We applaud California, New Mexico and Oregon for taking the lead and fighting for the clean water, recreational opportunities, economic benefits and wildlife habitat that these forests provide the country."

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