About Us: State PIRG Articles
Landmark Forest Service Policy to Protect Nearly 60 Million Acres of National Forests (2000 & 2004)
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, in North America,
more than half of the coastal temperate rainforests, once extending
from California to Alaska, have been destroyed. Coastal temperate
rainforests are one of the most endangered forest types on the planet.
The State PIRGs, along with a coalition of other groups, have worked
for many years to make preservation of the nation's remaining wild
forests a priority. In 1999, after years of advocacy, the Forest
Service announced an 18-month moratorium on road-building in national
forests, and began to revise its wild forest management policy.
Then, in 2000, when the Forest Service issued a weak draft of a new
wild forests rule, the coalition set an audacious goal of gathering one
million public comments to the Forest Service in support of the
coalition's preferred policy. The State PIRGs took a leading role in
reaching out to the public, and gathered almost 700,000 comments in
favor of strong protection for wild forests. This amount was almost
half of the record 1.6 million comments that were received on this
plan, with 95% of the comments supporting the coalition's plan. The
groundswell of public opinion made an impression on President Clinton,
who, two weeks before leaving office, moved to protect 58.5 million
acres of undeveloped land in national forests.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has consistently supported
policies that seek to reduce or eliminate many protections currently in
place within our wild national forests. In 2004, for example, the Bush
administration proposed repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
The State PIRGs helped educate the public about the proposal and issued
seventeen state-by-state reports documenting the clean drinking water,
recreation, and wildlife habitat benefits of roadless areas in
America's National Forests. The reports, "Our Natural Legacy: The Value
of America's Roadless National Forests," are available at
www.uspirg.org/reports. The Forest Service received 1.7 million
comments in opposition to this new proposal to change the roadless
rule.
