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For Immediate Release
Court Dumps Bush Roadless Repeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal court today tossed out the Bush administration's rewrite of the "Roadless Rule"for America's forests and reinstated a Clinton-era rule that protected 58.5 million acres of roadless areas on national forests from road-building, logging, and other destruction.
"Today's court ruling reinstates much-needed protections for some of America's most important wild lands, places that provide vital habitat for wildlife, including elk, salmon, and bears,"stated Rodger Schlickeisen. "Dropping protections for these areas was one of the Bush administration's more crass and obvious giveaways to the timber industry and other special interests."
The Clinton-era roadless rule was adopted in early 2001 after more than 600 public hearings and 2.5 million public comments in favor of the plan. The Bush administration then junked the plan shortly after taking office and ultimately instituted a plan that requires individual states to petition the federal government to protect individual roadless areas. And even if a governor petitions for protection, as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently did, the U.S. Forest Service could still deny that request.
"The Bush administration's stewardship of our nation's forests has been a disaster. They repealed the roadless rule, discarded guidelines for maintaining viable wildlife populations in national forests, and cut wildlife experts out of the loop when assessing the environmental impact of timber sales," said Schlickeisen. "The President is supposed to protect our natural heritage, not destroy it. Fortunately, the courts have again come to the rescue, but we must be ever vigilant for whatever disastrous proposal comes next."
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Defenders of Wildlife is recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 500,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.
