In my personal life, I care about a lot of issues and have some pretty strong political beliefs.  The same is true here at work, but I spend most of my time focused on advocating for the protection of Oregon’s remaining pristine roadless lands. 

Until they are designated as Wilderness – something Oregon’s delegation seems happy to keep on their to-do list – the Roadless Rule is the best way to protect places like Mt. Bailey, Lookout Mountain, & much of Oregon’s Yellowstone.  When Barack Obama said he would uphold and defend the Roadless Rule, I assumed he meant it, so when he became President Obama, I was hopeful.

I was all for "yes we can".  But when special interests want to make a profit from our public lands, I'm more for "oh no you can't".  Or at least, as my Aussie friends would say, "slow down chum".

 One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Now don’t get me wrong, the Obama administration has done some good things on the environment - including protecting some important Wilderness areas, defending the Roadless Rule in court, and generally respecting science.  However, after a press release I received today, you’ll have to forgive me for being a bit disappointed and a touch sarcastic.

President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture just gave the green light to over a dozen roadless projects around the country.  Most of them are giveaways to mining and extractive interests.  It’s not the first time that the administration has publicly reasserted their support for the Roadless Rule while quietly giving away our public lands to special interests.

Here’s an excerpt from our press statement on Secretary Vilsack’s support last month for a Colorado scheme that threatens roadless areas across the country by undermining (no pun intended) the Rule.

"It’s darkly ironic that on a day when headlines across the country are lamenting the dangers of the dirty coal industry, Secretary Vilsack is lauding as sound environmental policy a plan that gives more flexibility to coal mines to mine their cheap and dirty product from our most treasured wild places."

The Roadless Rule does include some common sense exceptions for public safety and access.  However, the intent of the Rule is clear – to protect what remains of our nation’s pristine backcountry from provincial interests wanting to make a quick buck at the expense of future generations.

Justified

Secretary Vilsack justified the action on two grounds.  First he said their hands were tied by the antiquated mining laws of 1872 which trump the Roadless Rule.  If that’s a problem they ought to put some effort into updating them for the 21st century.  They’d certainly have our support.

Additionally, Vilsack claims the projects promise to follow the letter of the Roadless Rule.  However, as we learned with a recent project near Crater Lake, simply saying a project is in keeping with the Rule doesn’t make it so.

Why it matters in Oregon

Umpqua National Forest Supervisor Clifford Dils used one of the common sense exceptions of the Roadless Rule to justify the his DBug Timber Sale.  A very small portion of the project focused on protecting homes and infrastructure just to the North of the park – and we support that goal.  However, the enormous and destructive project would have included more roadless logging than occurred across the entire country during the entirety of the Bush administration.  It was indefensible on its own term.

Even the letter of the law on Roadless is clear.  Any activities in roadless areas must enhance their “roadless characteristics”.  I don’t know the details of the projects Secretary Vilsack approved, but it’s hard to imagine that mining, drilling, and roadbuilding are going to enhance their roadless characteristics.

In the case of DBug, Supervisor Dils of course promised the project would comply with the Rule.  He’s obligated to.  The facts on the ground suggest otherwise.

Thanks to a strong public outcry, the project has been scaled back. Even so, the most recent iteration still stubbornly includes commercial logging in roadless areas (and in reality that’s not the worst of it).

A Way Forward

We worked with local stakeholders, recreation groups, and the Forest Service to provide a Citizen’s Alternative proposal that showed a clear way forward by highlighting over 5,000 acres of common ground as well as major points of controversy.  We hope Supervisor Dils will accept this olive branch and won’t continue to cling to his massive and destructive project.  Doing so will only lead to continued gridlock and controversy.

The Obama administration has promised a new era of collaboration and cooperation between the many interests with a stake in our public lands.  It’s an ideal we’ve embraced with our support of Senator Wyden’s East Side Forest Bill and work in the Siuslaw National Forest.  However, when the administration says one thing and then does another it makes it hard to know who your friends are.

It’s time to say no to special interests who want to make a buck at the expense of our public lands.  It’s time to say no to big oil, big timber, and big coal.  It’s time to say yes to protecting Oregon’s Yellowstone, making miners pay up, and standing up for what remains of our pristine roadless wildlands.

After all Mr. President, you promised.  It’s time to deliver.