America's Roadless Lands

I have been actively working in Congress to protect our nation's treasured forest land. The Clinton Administration took the bold, yet necessary, step to permanently protect close to 59 million acres of roadless areas in our national forests from most logging and road building. The rule, however, has been stuck in legal limbo ever since President Bush took office. His administration has been rewriting the rule in an effort to allow more logging, mining, and drilling in these sensitive areas. In a move that defies the federal authority over federal lands, the latest Bush plan calls for governors to petition the federal government to enforce the rule in their state. Not only does this proposal fly directly in the face of the role of the federal government in determining federal land use issues, it gives governors carte blanche to log, mine, and build roads in our last remaining roadless areas.

In both the 106th and the 107th Congresses, I introduced legislation that would protect our roadless areas from unnecessary environmental degradation. My bill, H.R. 2369, the Roadless Area Conservation Act, would make the Clinton Administration's roadless conservation plan the law of the land and prevent a President from weakening it through executive actions.

The original roadless rule was the result of a two-year process in which the Forest Service held more than 600 meetings. Furthermore, more than 1.6 million people submitted comments on this plan and the vast majority of them were in support of the rule. Currently, 51 percent of our national forest land remains open for logging, mining, and drilling. Only 18 percent of that land has been designated as wilderness. My bill will ensure that the remaining 31 percent remains untouched and protected from logging, mining, and road building. My legislation only applies to inventoried roadless areas on federal land within the national forest system and does not affect private land. The Roadless Area Conservation Act has broad, bipartisan support from scientists, religious organizations, hunters, economists, and private citizens.

I am also a proud cosponsor of H.R. 979, the Alaska Rainforest Conservation Act. This legislation would permanently safeguard the remaining important wild lands of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests to provide for hunting, fishing, recreation, tourism, and traditional subsistence activities. The wild forests in Alaska need to be protected so that others may enjoy them. H.R. 979 would not be as crucial, however, if the roadless rule were left intact because most of the land that would be protected by H.R. 979 would have already been taken care of under the roadless rule.