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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
19, 1999 11:10 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Heritage Forests Campaign Ken Rait, 503-283-6343, ext. 210, or Peter Kelley, 202-887-8831 (work) 202-332-0685 (home |
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| The State of the Union's Forests remains "Endangered" | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- January 19 - President Clinton's mention of a "Lands Legacy" in tonight's State
of the Union address proved to be yet another missed opportunity to save the
Heritage Forests that the American public already owns, said the Heritage
Forests Campaign.
Instead of delivering on his November 1997 pledge to protect scenic wilderness areas in our National Forests, President Clinton in his speech focused instead on a plan to spend $1 billion buying new land, which a hostile Congress would have to approve. This glaring omission from the administration's so-called "Lands Legacy Initiative" comes just days before the one-year anniversary of a U.S. Forest Service promise to suspend roadbuilding in pristine wilderness. This promised moratorium period, announced last Jan. 22, 1998, by Clinton's U.S. Forest Service chief, Mike Dombeck, still has not begun. Ken Rait, Director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, commented: "There they go again -- first, President Clinton still has not delivered on his 1997 promise to protect forests the American public already owns; then, the Forest Service dragged its feet on the road-building moratorium; and now, Clinton and Gore have embraced this billion-dollar 'Lands Legacy' that hinges on congressional approval. Once our Heritage Forests are gone, they're gone forever. And they need the President's help now." The cheapest way for the Clinton-Gore administration to leave a "lands legacy" for the future, Rait said, would be to spare the 30 percent of our National Forests that remains scenic wilderness but is still unprotected. Instead, the Forest Service is currently studying how to build more logging roads there despite a $5-$10 billion dollar road reconstruction backlog, and timber corporations hope to clearcut large portions in the near future. "If President Clinton and Vice President Gore really want a 'Lands Legacy' as they say they do, they should permanently protect our last wild National Forest roadless areas over 1,000 acres, and manage these Heritage Forests according to science instead of politics as the President promised over a year ago," Rait said. In the next month, the U.S. Forest Service is finally expected to implement its temporary moratorium on the construction of new roads in some roadless areas. However, the Forest Service is forging ahead with an 18-month study with four goals: determining how to build roads better, how to remove some roads, how to upgrade some roads, and how to pay for more roads -- with nothing said about protecting wild areas for future generations. -0- |
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