Heritage Forests Campaign News Release

For Immediate Release
May 5, 2005

Contact:
Tony Iallonardo, NET, 202-887-8855 (ph)

Administration Abandons Forest Protections

Statement of Philip Clapp, President, National Environmental Trust, Washington, DC

"This is the evil twin of the Clinton Administration's forest protection policy. It's dressed up in states' rights language, but it really just reopens 60 percent of the forests President Clinton protected to logging, effective immediately.

"This takes us straight back to the early 1990's, when the National Forests were managed as nothing more than tree lots for the timber industry.

"Four years ago yesterday, announcing that the Bush Administration would implement the Clinton rule, Secretary Veneman said that 'providing roadless protection for our national forests is the right thing to do.' Apparently that statement is now inoperative.

"The process for governors to petition to protect National Forests in their states is nothing more than a big, cumbersome smokescreen of red tape designed to hide the real policy: reopen the last untouched 30% of the national forests to logging.

"This is the Bush Administration's single biggest environmental give-away to a major industry since the President took office."

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