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Roadless plan to be discussed An open house to discuss President Clinton's executive order calling for up to 50 million acres of roadless areas to be set aside on national forests will be held Thursday in Medford. The three-hour session begins at 6 p.m. at the Medford Rogue Regency Inn, 2345 Crater Lake Highway. The session is not a public hearing, but a question-and-answer period will be held, according to Mary Marrs, spokeswoman for the Rogue River and Siskiyou national forests. Participants will also be given the opportunity to submit written comments on Clinton's plan, she said. The comments, which must be submitted by Dec. 20, will help the Forest Service's national environmental impact statement team to identify issues and potential alternatives, she said. During a similar meeting in Coos Bay on Dec. 2, the public offered comments on how uninventoried roadless areas could be evaluated and how existing roads in the forests could be managed, she noted. President Clinton declared in an executive order this fall that more than 40 million acres of roadless areas on national forests will be preserved. The total could reach 50 million acres, according to some estimates. The executive order calls for blocks of at least 5,000 acres. Smaller parcels would not be included. The order was greeted enthusiastically by most members of the environmental community, although some have called for including roadless area parcels of 1,000 acres or more. But U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, whose 2nd Congressional District includes Jackson and Josephine counties as well as all of Eastern Oregon, and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., decried Clinton's order as little more than an executive land grab that bypasses Congress. The timber industry has also expressed concern that the order will further reduce the availability of timber from national forests. There are 81,200 acres of roadless areas in the Rogue River National Forest and 284,000 acres in the Siskiyou National Forest, according to the Forest Service. All told, there are some 2 million acres of roadless areas in national forests in Oregon. Clinton's plan would make them permanently off-limits to road-building and ground-disturbing activity. The executive order requires no congressional action, relying instead on regulations to be issued by the Forest Service after a detailed environmental review and public comments, administration officials said. The regulations could range from prohibiting any development or vehicles to allowing snowmobiles and dune buggies in some areas, said Mike Dombeck, Forest Service chief. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA