Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2005 Source: Republican, The (Springfield, MA) Copyright: 2005 The Republican Contact: http://www.masslive.com/republican/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3075 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) FOR LOGGING INDUSTRY, MONEY GROWS ON TREES Eight days before he left office in January 2001, President Clinton issued an order protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forests from road construction. At the time, the national forests contained 386,000 miles of roads, eight times the length of the interstate highway system and enough to encircle the earth 15 times. Most of the roads were built for timber access and extraction. The Clinton order sent a message to Americans not heard since Theodore Roosevelt created the national forests a century ago: Our forests are more valuable as pristine woodlands than as planks of lumber. Yesterday, the Bush administration announced a fundamental shift in how the nation officially views its forests when it overturned the Clinton order. The decision puts at great risk a natural resource that provides recreational opportunities for millions of Americans and a habitat for fish and wildlife. The Bush administration has argued that this is a states' rights issue. It claims that the 12 Western states and Alaska - where most of the national forests are located - have a right to manage their own forests. This is a change of tune. The Bush administration was not an advocate for states' rights when it attempted to block a California law allowing the medical use of marijuana. It was not an advocate for states' rights when it challenged an Oregon law that permits assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. And it was not an advocate for states' rights when it supported an amendment to the federal Constitution banning gay marriage after Massachusetts had become the first state in the nation to allow it. This is no longer the 19th century when our nation's forests were seen as a valuable resource ripe for the picking to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population. The U.S. Forestry Service's own records show that recreational use by campers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts generate far more revenue than timber sales. In fact, the Government Accountability Office estimates that the timber program cost American taxpayers more than $2 billion from 1992 to 1997. Taxpayers not only subsidize the road construction, but they pay for the road maintenance. That may explain why lobbyists for the logging industry think that money grows on trees. In the national forests, it does for the logging industry. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake