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The new roadless policy, issued
by the Bush administration in May 2005, repealed the 2001 Roadless Area
Conservation Rule, leaving millions of acres of our last wild forests
at risk from logging, mining, drilling, and other harmful activities.
The new policy replaces environmental protections for much of our national
forests with a voluntary process that allows governors to petition for
protection of roadless areas in their states - or for more logging, mining,
drilling or other forms of development.
In the end this new policy does not assure any type of federal protections
for our national forests.
Under the new policy, if governors wish to have roadless areas within their
state protected, they must complete a burdensome petition process and file
their recommendations with political appointees at the Department of Agriculture.
The federal government is free to accept, modify or reject these petitions,
while elected officials and citizens outside those states have no say at all about
the fate of these shared national treasures.
Conservationists throughout the country are joining together to file an
official petition with the Bush administration to demand the reinstatement of the
2001 rule. We believe that America's last roadless National Forests belong to
each and every American and all our remaining roadless areas should be protected,
completely and permanently, through reinstatement of the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule of 2001.
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