Oregon's roadless forests are still at risk
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America’s roadless forests are widely understood to be among our most precious natural treasures. These forests provide pristine habitat for wildlife and fish, and they support clean rivers and drinking water. They are some of our country’s last places untouched by development and human activity, places where people can go to see what the Natural Resources Defense Council calls “the last strongholds of the primeval American landscape.”
The almost two million roadless acres that lie within Oregon’s borders are not only important to Oregonians. People and organizations throughout the country are watching what happens to Oregon’s roadless forests, because they are places where laws, court decisions and governmental actions regarding roadless forests are having impacts right now.
Earth Share member groups have been working for years to make sure that the 58.5 million acres of wild forests nationwide will be protected despite changes in the White House and within government agencies that oversee our forests. And they each work toward this goal using their different volunteer groups, tactics and values.
Oregon’s Siskiyou Project, a small nonprofit in Southern Oregon, has been on the front lines of roadless forest protection for years, leading local activists and advocating for these important places in Southern Oregon. Their work has been particularly important, since the 2002 Biscuit forest fire launched timber sales in Southern Oregon – this summer, logging companies began cutting into two of Oregon’s largest unprotected forest wildlands: the North and South Kalmiopsis Roadless Areas. The damage done by this logging may mean that the forests, despite their roadless status, will never again meet the criteria to be protected as federal Wilderness Areas.
The Bush Administration’s suspension of the 2001 Roadless Rule was challenged in court by numerous entities, eventually leading to a court decision on September 20, 2006, that reinstated the Rule. Despite that ruling, the US Forest Service continued to allow logging in Siskikyou roadless areas. The judge indicated in a recent newspaper article that the money already spent on the logging projects was a factor in her decision to allow the logging to continue. To prevent the loss of more roadless forests, the Siskiyou Project is working to create a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Conservation Area to safeguard these national treasures for the future.
Siskiyou Project and other Earth Share member groups like Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics are working for a more long-term solution than the Roadless Rule, which was a Clinton-era presidential order. They support more permanent roadless forest protections, such as those in Senate Bill 2364, which was introduced in March 2006 in the U.S. Senate.
While some organizations work from the land, other groups like the Pacific Rivers Council (PRC), work on protecting the water that runs through roadless forests. These forests provide unpolluted places where water runs freely through creeks, streams and rivers – many of which feed Oregonians’ drinking water sources. There are more than 400,000 miles of roads in U.S. forestlands – and more than half of these roads fail to meet public safety and environmental standards, according to PRC. Forest roads, especially those that are poorly maintained, cause water pollution, major soil erosion, and other effects that can quickly destroy a clean watershed. PRC is working to prevent new road building, and thus prevent irreversible destruction of the clean watersheds that remain on public lands.
Oregon Wild (formerly ONRC) has also been at the forefront of protecting roadless forests. One of their most powerful programs uses 500+ volunteers to keep eyes and ears in our forests. Oregon Wild’s “Adopt-a-Wilderness” program asks volunteer hikers to choose a wilderness area, and then visit their area frequently. These volunteers document the assets that make their chosen areas special, like wildlife, native plants, or hiking trails. According to Oregon Wild, “they also record threats to the area, such as proposed logging and road building, mining, overgrazing or overuse by recreationists.” The information they gather, and the ready support for their chosen forestlands, is a tremendous boost to roadless forest protection in Oregon.
Many national environmental organizations have championed the value and importance of Oregon’s roadless forests. Groups like Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) and The Wilderness Society are working to protect these forests through their own avenues. IWLA is in a unique position to influence the future of America’s roadless forests; its Executive Director, Paul Hansen, was asked to serve on a federal advisory committee that will evaluate proposals for roadless area protections various state governors are producing, (including one from Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski).
The net result of these, and dozens of other nonprofit conservation groups’ efforts, will hopefully be permanent protection of Oregon’s crucial roadless forest acres, clean watersheds, and opportunities for Americans to experience the spectacular beauty of an untouched forest.
For more information on what you can do to help, support Earth Share of Oregon and its member groups, and visit:
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
