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Roadless forum angers crowd Forest Service hears complaints over plan By PAUL FATTIG Timber industry representative Dave Hill and environmental activist Charlotte Holzkamper were in rare agreement Thursday night. Both took exception to the way an open house was conducted by the Forest Service to address President Clinton's executive order to create up to some 50 million acres of roadless areas on national forests. "The process is no good," concluded Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association. "It's really frustrating for people to come in here with these questions that nobody can answer. You have the feeling this roadless proposal is going to move forward no matter what the local input is." Charlotte Holzkamper, chair of the Rogue Group Sierra Club, who supports the call for roadless areas, was also concerned about the process. "This is a disaster," she said. "This little room with no place to sit down or write comments? It's ridiculous." They were among some 200 people jammed into a meeting room to vent their concerns over the future of roadless areas. Some wore stickers proclaiming "Access For All." Others sported "I Love Roadless Areas" stickers. The session had been called to identify issues and potential alternatives to help the agency's national environmental impact statement (EIS) team to identify issues and potential alternatives, according to agency's officials. Although no oral comments were accepted, written comments were encouraged. Official deadline for commenting is Dec. 20. A draft EIS is expected to be released next spring, followed by a final EIS in the fall. "What this is is a workshop to provide you with information," explained Tom Riley, deputy supervisor of the Rogue River and Siskiyou national forests. "But this is really not a hearing," he added. "Let's have an open forum," one woman suggested. "We're not going to do that," responded Chuck Anderson, forest planner for the Rogue River forest. "We are not the decision makers. We are not doing an analysis here locally." "Let's vote on it!" yelled one person. "We're not voting," Anderson responded. Finally, when Anderson's presentation on the format was repeatedly interrupted, one man in the crowd had enough. "He should be allowed to finish his speech -- a little patience would be wonderful," the man said. Medford resident Rocky Reeser, a member of the Motorcycle Riders Association, left disgusted. "I think it's a facade," he said. "I feel sorry for the Forest Service people here. They are wasting their time. Clinton's going to push this through." John Bastian, president of the Rogue Valley Snowmobilers, agreed. "This is totally wrong all the way around -- and this process tonight is ridiculous," he said. "They've got their minds made up. They want us out of the woods." Applegate Valley resident Chris Bratt, a longtime environmental activist, also was bothered by the process. "You have to look at it from the historical perspective," he said, noting that the timber industry and federal agencies had "steamrolled" policy in the past. "The Forest Service is finally making some recognition that there are ecological factors here that are very valuable." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA