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Tim-ber! There goes Bush credibility on U.S. forests

Date published: 5/27/2001

BLAND--One really doesn't have to imagine too hard to conjure up an image of President Bush and his staff hovering around the table behind closed doors, plotting the best possible way to reverse the expressed opinion of millions of Americans and undo the "roadless-area conservation rule."

This rule, the momentum behind the Wild Forest Campaign that would have spared 58.5 million acres of public forests from the dozer, was the largest public rule-making process in federal history. More than 1.6 million comments on the proposed rule were received nationwide, with more than 95 percent of respondents favoring full and permanent protection of these roadless areas.

The timber industry was so threatened by this assault on what it considers its own private stock that Bush took time off between the swearing-in and the inaugural balls to head to the Oval Office. There, flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, he placed a hold on the implementation of the rule already signed into the federal register on Jan. 5 and scheduled to be in effect in March--this to give time for his cronies to figure out their offense. And that they did.

After freezing the plan until May 12 to "review" it, the first thing to do was to get Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft to cross his fingers during his confirmation hearings when he swore under oath that he would defend the rule.

Idaho (the only state with under 50 percent expressed public support for the rule) headed into federal court along with timber giant Boise-Cascade to sue the federal government to block the rule's implementation. The Justice Department rolled over: At one point, the defense took five of its allotted 45 minutes to present its case.

On May 9, Bush announced that although he would "allow" the rule to go into effect May 12, the administration would announce "revisions" in June permitting more "local control." Translation: Toss roadless-area protection back to the individual national forests, where it was as more than 51 percent of federal public forests were destroyed.

Without a doubt, these "revisions" will be designed to overturn the final rule and replace it with hollow language that will provide little if any protection for these national treasures.

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Date published: 5/27/2001