Organizing for America | Silvia Hall's Blog: Take Action: Uphold and Defend the 2001 Roadless Rule

Take Action: Uphold and Defend the 2001 Roadless Rule

By Silvia from Boca Raton, FL - Jul 7th, 2009 at 8:26 pm EDT

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Letter to President Obama:

Thank you for your support of the 2001 National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule. As a senator you cosponsored the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act. As a presidential candidate you pledged to uphold and defend the 2001 Roadless Rule and supported protecting all 58.5 million acres of wild forests covered by that rule. I also appreciate your administration's one-year interim directive requiring Secretary Vilsack's personal review of any road construction projects or timber sales in roadless forests that were protected under the rule. However, it is time to finish the job. Please fulfill your pledge to uphold and defend the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In order to uphold and defend the 2001 rule, its protections need to be returned to all national forests. In doing so, I urge you to instruct your lawyers at the Department of Justice to stop defending the flawed 2005 Bush roadless rule in the 9th Circuit and immediately appeal the recent decision in the Wyoming district court, eliminate the Bush administration's 2003 "temporary" exemption of the Tongass, and restore the rule's protections to all of Idaho's roadless forests. In particular, the Bush administration's approval of the expansion of the Smoky Canyon mine into roadless areas of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest must be revoked. The 2001 Roadless Rule is the most widely supported forest conservation measure in history. Hundreds of hearings were held, millions of comments gathered, and Americans support roadless protection by a margin of 10 to 1. Supporters include hunters and anglers, religious leaders, scientists, backpackers, and many elected officials such as yourself. Count me among them. Mr. President, please finish the job of restoring the protections of the 2001 Roadless Rule to all 58.5 million acres of wild forests.

Thank you.

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