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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 25, 2006 Kulongoski to seek federal roadless protection By Paul Fattig Mail Tribune Local environmental and sports fishing groups are applauding a move by Gov. Ted Kulongoski petitioning the Bush administration restore Clinton-era protections to nearly 2 million acres of roadless areas in Oregon’s national forests. Kulongoski, who has joined other Western governors in the effort, also has requested the U.S. Forest Service not log in roadless areas scorched by the 2002 Biscuit fire in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest until the petition is resolved. "These lands are part of every Oregonian’s natural heritage," Kulongoski said in a prepared statement. "They are priceless treasures that provide critical habitat for wildlife and fish, as well as watershed and recreational opportunities. We must not subject them to the damage they would suffer from road-building and logging." The agency plans to auction off Mike’s Gulch in mid June and Blackberry salvage in August. Both salvage sales are part of the forest’s inventoried roadless areas which total some 368,000 acres. The inventoried roadless areas included in Clinton’s so-called roadless rule are in blocks of more than 5,000 acres. Advertisement Nationally, the figure is about 58 million acres of federal land. But the roadless tract in the Rogue River-Siskiyou is the largest concentration of roadless areas on the West Coast, said Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist in charge of the World Wildlife Fund’s Southern Oregon office in Ashland. "It’s an important salmon and rare-plant refuge — plants that are found nowhere else on Earth," DellaSala said. "The highest use is to protect this area. ... The governor needs to be commended — he is doing his part in the petition process the administration laid out," he added. "Now the administration needs to back up the petition process they set up. When the administration set this up, they said they would not enter into a roadless area that was being petitioned." The Clinton administration adopted the roadless policy in 2000 to ban logging and roadbuilding in those areas, but the Bush administration last May dropped many of those protections after being challenged in court. The latter created a roadless policy that required governors to file petitions identifying roadless areas they want to preserve. Kulongoski has already joined the governors of California and New Mexico in a pending lawsuit against Uncle Sam, asking for the 2002 roadless rule to be reinstated. Eagle Point resident Mike Beagle, Oregon and Washington field coordinator for Trout Unlimited, also applauded Kulongoski’s effort. "This further cements Gov. Kulongoski’s desire to keep things like they are," Beagle said, "to the benefit of hunters, anglers and anyone who accesses Oregon’s backcountry." Roadless areas offer the best habitat for fish and wildlife habitat, making them the best for hunting and fishing, Beagle said. "We should keep it like it is — the status quo in this instance is a good thing," he continued. "Petitioning the government for roadless protection is the best way we can ensure these lands will stay the same. ... I think the governor understands that our roadless areas aren’t broken, so he sees no need to fix them." Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisement s