By Chris Horgan
Stewards of the Sequoia

Last week a Kern Valley Sun reader claimed “political propaganda and disinformation” over the reversal of the Roadless Rule by President Bush. He offered his opinions regarding the change in Forest Service policy. He failed to mention one real reason; courts found the Roadless Rule illegal in eight cases filed by states against the Forest Service. The government is following the law when reviewing & revising the illegal rule.

The Roadless Rule may be contentious, but there is strong opposition from California. Out of all comments nationwide from agencies 82% came from California. Out of those comments 88% OPPOSED the Roadless Rule. Undoubtedly those mayors, elected officials & boards of supervisors are also interested in keeping our forest healthy. They also place a high value on quality recreation. Yet they found many factual reasons why the Roadless Rule is unacceptable & the courts agreed.

Their comments questioned the need for a National rule when each National Forest has a local forest management plan. Local plans are far more in touch with the reality & needs of local forests, whereas top down rules circumvent local planning efforts.

A common theme from the comments is the rule was not created in a collaborative process. It was created by extreme environmental groups & has a bias towards their definition of environmental protection, without concern for public access, forest health or economic impact.

The spin that without the Roadless Rule road building & logging will be rampant in Sequoia is utterly ludicrous. Existing forest plans & regulations would not allow that. Sierra Club-Sequoia Task Force-Regional Delegate, Joe Fontaine, recently stated, Sequoia Forest Roadless areas have no timber of commercial value. This cannot be an initiative by President Bush to log our forest.

While an obvious contradiction in terms, Roadless Areas actually have Roads. The Clinton era definition of a Roadless Area is, roads cannot be built, not that they are “Roadless”. Indeed there are roads in Sequoia's, so called, Roadless Areas. A valid concern is that only areas without roads, be allowed to be designated “Roadless”.

In reality the Roadless Rule was not reversed. It was reopened for comment by states for a period of 18 months, hopefully to allow a more collaborative process.

The touted bipartisan effort in Congress to support the Roadless Rule was signed by eight Congressmen, who represent mostly urban districts without Roadless Areas, with exception of one who may have small Roadless Areas in his district. Only one is from California, San Francisco to be exact, mecca of questionable Roadless experts.

Governor Schwarzenegger needs to hear from you. Ask him to address the problems identified with the Roadless Rule to ensure forest health, multiple use & recreation access. Tell him local Forest land managers, local citizens & local officials need to decide how to manage our forest, not politicians in Washington DC, certainly not those who do not have a Roadless Area, or perhaps even a National Forest in their district.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
governor@governor.ca.gov

Link to article in Kern Sun that prompted the above response

Link to Hate Mail from Archie Logsdon, writer of letter in above link