🚀 go-pugleaf

On Jan 27, 6:05 am, habe...@lycos.com wrote:
> On Jan 27, 1:51 am, jazzerci...@hotmail.com (-) wrote:
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> >http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-25-095.asp
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> > Bush Opens Roadless Tongass National Forest to Logging
>
> > JUNEAU, Alaska, January 25, 2008 (ENS) - Today, the Bush administration put a
> > "for sale" sign on trees in pristine roadless areas of the Tongass rainforest
> > in Alaska - America's largest national forest.
>
> > This move by Bush officials to reverse roadless area protections parallels two
> > others made recently in national forests located in Idaho and Colorado.
>
> > Conservationists from across the country are indignant that roads will be
> > punched through some of the nation's last, best roadless areas to allow
> > private corporations to log America's public lands.
>
> > "The few remaining roadless areas of our national forests are some of the only
> > safe harbors for America's wildlife," said Mary Beth Beetham at Defenders of
> > Wildlife. "As global warming threatens to dramatically change the landscape we
> > must have the foresight to preserve these last remaining pristine forests for
> > future generations. It's folly for the Bush administration, in its last few
> > months, to work to destroy these areas."
>
> > In December 2003, Bush officials "temporarily" exempted Alaska's Tongass
> > rainforest from the Clinton era Roadless Rule, designed to protect 58 million
> > acres of roadless wild forests in 39 states.
>
> > The Bush administration's new management plan for the Tongass National Forest
> > will raise no revenue for the U.S. government, as the U.S. taxpayers will have
> > to pay to build the roads the timber companies need to access the forest.
>
> > "With so much of our forest heritage already lost, every roadless acre counts.
> > The spectacular roadless areas in Alaska deserve as much protection as those
> > in every other state," said Larry Edwards with Greenpeace in Sitka, Alaska.
>
> > "The Roadless Rule and the courts have sheltered many of the last, best places
> > in our national forests, even during an administration hostile to forest
> > protection. Now, with one foot out the door, Bush officials are looking for
> > whatever way they can to give away the family silver," said Franz Matzner at
> > the Natural Resources Defense Council.
>
> > Tongass logging fell dramatically in the 1990s, and for years now has existed
> > at levels that do not require slicing roads and clearcuts into virgin
> > old-growth forests, as the Forest Service itself has acknowledged.
>
> > "The new plan suffers from the same central problem as the old plan. It leaves
> > 2.4 million acres of wild, roadless backcountry areas open to clear cutting
> > and new logging roads," said Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo. "The Tongass is
> > worth a whole lot more to the American people as a standing forest than it is
> > as a sea of stumps and logs."
>
> > The land management plan released today was ordered more than two years ago by
> > a federal court which concluded that the old plan justifying opening Tongass
> > wildlands for development was invalid due to several factors, including a
> > gross overestimation of demand for Tongass logs.
>
> > Congress also has expressed concern with Tongass wilderness logging. The House
> > of Representative has voted three times to stop taxpayer dollars from funding
> > new logging roads there.
>
> > In September 2006, the federal District Court of Northern California ordered
> > the Bush administration to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule
> > to protect almost 50 million acres of National Forests and grasslands across
> > the lower 48 states and Puerto Rico from road construction, logging, and other
> > harmful development.
>
> > Roadless area of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska.
> >           (Photo credit unknown)
> >    http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/20080125_tongass.jpg
>
> > Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled that the Bush administration violated both the
> > National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by when it
> > repealed the Roadless Rule and put into place another rule without any
> > substantial analysis or need.
>
> > But the long term status of the roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest
> > in Alaska was not settled by Judge Laporte. In 2003, the Bush administration
> > exempted the Tongass from the roadless rule by creating a separate amendment
> > that was based on the validity of the Tongass Land Management Plan.
>
> > "The Forest Service is losing money hand over fist on roads that Americans
> > don't even want," said Christy Goldfuss of Environment America.
>
> > "Today," said Caitlin Hills with American Lands Alliance, "the federal
> > government, in defiance of the facts and the strongly expressed sentiments of
> > the American people to protect all roadless areas, has answered 'fire up the
> > chainsaws.'"
>
> > "The Tongass is the crown jewel of our nation's roadless wildlands," said
> > Trish Rolfe at Alaska Sierra Club. "Wild salmon, bears, eagles, and wolves
> > thrive there among moss-draped ancient trees, along crystalline fjords and
> > untamed rivers. It has nine million acres of roadless areas that lack
> > permanent protection. The Bush administration has just put some of the best of
> > them on the chopping block."
>
> > "All over the Tongass there are roadless wildlands that local people and
> > visitors hold dear, jeopardized by this new plan," said Gregory Vickrey with
> > Tongass Conservation Society.
>
> > "These are special places critical to the region's incredible fish, deer and
> > other wildlife, world-famous recreational opportunities, cherished subsistence
> > practices, and the businesses and jobs that depend on the region's natural
> > treasures," said Vickrey. "These are the very things that make Southeast
> > Alaskans most want to live here."
>
> > Environment News Service (ENS) 2008.
>
> Agree that Bush is a disaster. But which party has the will to tackle
> that most devastating
> of environmental impacts, the population growth which is now almost
> totally a function of
> immigration, legal and illegal?
>
> Dennis- Hide quoted text -
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> - Show quoted text -

Neither of the major ones from my observation.