Of the over 382,000 miles of Forest Service roads, only 80,000 miles are accessible to passenger cars, the rest are logging roads. Most of these public access roads are crumbling. But what does Bush plan to do? Use tax dollars to build MORE timber industry roads. 25 economists have written to protest this outrageous misuse of tax dollars. "Prioritizing road system expenditures toward existing infrastructure, rather than commissioning the construction of new roads would help to reduce this taxpayer burden and make better use of existing roads to increase access to the National Forests. What is needed is a few good roads' not more miles of poorly maintained roads that add sediment to our streams, fragment wildlife habitat and displace non-motorized recreation such as hiking and mountain biking."

Several of America's most respected scientists and conservationists have written Bush a letter calling for the immediate implementation of Clinton's Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which will protect nearly 60 million acres of National Forest land in 39 states. "Roads carve up forests, destroy wildlife habitat and choke streams with dirt, killing fish," writes Robert Ervin, Director of the World Wildlife Fund. "We have more miles of roads on our national forests than miles of interstate highways. Enough is enough." Bush's move to end roadless areas is based on about as much "sound science" as his stem cell decision - which even he admits, was based on "ignorance of the facts." Ignorance admitted in hindsight will not replace wildlands lost in ignorance.

It's a sad, sorry commentary that the only way Gail Norton can make herself look less bad (she'll never really look BETTER), is with a disaster as a backdrop. So, she is making the most of the west's wildland fires and has kicked off a PR campaign featuring celebrity public service announcements. Most big celebrities, aside from the all-brawn-no-brains crowd (Charlton Heston, Arnold Schwartnzenneger, et al.) wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near Norton and her PR (personal remediation) campaign (just ask Robert Redford, Bonny Raitt, Barbara Streisand, and the entire cast of West Wing, for starters). But Norton has snagged Andy Williams (yes, he's still alive!), Wayne Newton (does he STILL do Las Vegas?), ancient game show host Monty Hall, the obnoxious, now elderly Jackie Mason, oldtimer country western crooner Lee Greenwood. Hey - wasn't Art Linkletter available?

One of the big arguments being raised against preserving roadless areas is the danger of forest fires and the increased difficulty fighting such fires. Well, here's a statement right out of a National Forest Service/Dept. of the Interior 2000 report: "Some critics have expressed concern that the Administration’s proposed roadless area policy could increase wildfire risks. The facts do not support this conclusion. To the contrary, all available evidence suggests that fire starts may be fewer in unroaded than in previously roaded forests. Fires are almost twice as likely to occur in roaded areas as they are in roadless areas. The proposed roadless area protection policy would not affect the Federal agencies’ ability to control wildland fires." Another DOI report states that roads do not have a major bearing on the ability to effectively fight fires (helicopters are preferred).

Even though the American people ALREADY went through a public comment process on roadless area protections that took 3 years and netted 1.6 million recorded comments, Shrub has directed the Forest Service to do it all over again - this time in just 60 DAYS! Let's not let him get away with this! Make your voice heard - especially you scientists. Pass this info. along to everyone you know. He wants more comments? Let's swamp him! NOTE: Don't be thrown by the loaded questions posed on the comment page - they're just Shrub's efforts to get the "answers" he wants. You know what the real issues are!

After three years of public hearings and 1.6 million recorded comments by the public, it should be crystal clear: the American people have spoken and they said NO MORE ROADS in unspoiled wildlands. But now the Forest Service has a great idea: Why not spend millions more on soliciting more public input (stall, stall, stall!). Better yet, do it in the form of a questionnaire filled with loaded questions like "How do you think we can possibly protect forests from wildfires, insects, and diseases with out miles and miles of really beneficial, environmentally friendly wonderful roads?" "It is important we give people additional time to express their views," says chief staller Dale Bosworth. He probably should add, "Because that will give Bush time to find a way to get what he wants and spurn the public without making it look like that's what he's doing."

For three years, American citizens and environmental groups have campaigned against snowmobiles in Yellowstone Park. The Environmental Protection Agency has warned against their presence in wildlands based on several scientific studies. The Park managers themselves - you know, the guys who are IN the park, year round - are firmly against them. But who does Shrub side with? His friends at Ski-Doo, Polaris, Arctic Cat and Yamaha, of course. You know - the guys with the cash. Forget the wildlife affected by the machines. Forget the vast majority of visitors to the park, who long for a true wilderness experience. An experience of awesome silence, punctuated by the sound of the wind, birds, and scurrying wild feet. Forget 'em all, says Bush.

-"Either it's amateur hour at the Forest Service or these employees knowingly chose to defraud taxpayers." That's how Jonathan Oppenheimer of Taxpayers for Common Sense describes the outrageous sell off of more than 9 million board feet of timber from the Fernow Experimental Forest by the National Forest Service over the past decade. Want to know where the $2.4 million the NFS earned on the deal went? Into the pockets of the logging crews who chewed through the forest. The deal violates several recognized laws and regulations. These sleazy wood pymphs were caught through an audit by the Office of the Inspector General. The Taxpayers for Common Sense decided the NFS's criminal behavior deserved to be recognized by the lowest-of-the-low award: the Golden Fleece. With Bush's new "free market" rightwingers now planted in the NFS, the TCS better get a warehouse full of those prizes ready.

Everyone agrees - even loggers - that the Eagle Creek area of Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon should not be logged. Past cuts in the area permitted by the National Forest Service have created a devastating blowdown problem by opening the forest to intense winds. But timber prices in Asia are high now, so a local timber company wants to cash in. They are being aided and abetted by the NFS, who told them to go right ahead and rev up their chainsaws. Alas, with Bush at the helm, all of the resources of our NATIONAL (as in "ours," not his) forests and refuges, from timber and oil to minerals and natural gas, may be stripped out and shipped to the highest bidder. The Cascadia Forest Alliance plans to do whatever it takes to block the Eagle Creek cut. Show your support by protesting the Forest Service's diastrous policies.

After three years of study, 600 public hearings, and 1.6 million comments by citizens, the ban on logging and road building in 58.5 million acres of national forests issued by Pres. Clinton should not even be in court. It should be a done deal because it is, overwhelminingly, the will of the people. Yet, thanks to His Heinous, G. W. (Global Wreckingball) Bush, the fate of the ban now awaits the decision of a handful of judges in a federal appeals court in San Francisco. The only bone thrown to the American public: the court has promised to expedite their decision. THEIR decision! Since when is the fate of OUR national forests the decision of 9 judges that we didn't even elect?