> Why would one want to sign this petition? I would appreciate some
> reasons to sign. Neil Meyer
Questions and Answers About New Logging Roads:
(This information is about 8 months old, I've included a paragraph from
the Forest Services latest press release with the most current figures in
parenthesis below)
Is There a Shortage of Logging Roads on the National Forests?
No. There are currently 377,000 miles of road in the National
Forests, eight times the length of the Interstate Highway System. The road
density on National Forests is 1.6 miles of road per square mile of land.
By comparison, road density averages 1.1 miles per square mile in
comparable non-Forest Service lands.
Is the Current Road System Being Properly Maintained?
No. There is now a $440 million backlog in maintenance needed on
232,000 miles of National Forest road, according to Forest Service Chief
Michael Dombeck. It doesn't make sense to keep building new logging roads
when the Forest Service cannot maintain the roads that currently exist.
(Update from press release, Forest Service, dated 2/24/98: The Forest
Service road system is extensive. An estimated 373,000 miles of authorized
roads and an estimated 60,000 miles of unplanned and unmanaged "ghost
roads" traverse the 191 million acre National Forest System. The Forest
Service estimates that current funding allows only 40% of the roads to be
maintained to the standards they were designed for. The current backlog of
unmet maintenance needs exceeds $10 billion.)
Does the Timber Industry Cover the Cost for the Construction,
Reconstruction, and Maintenance of Logging Roads?
No. While the timber industry will often build roads as part of
timber sales, they are compensated for their expenses by the federal
government in the form of reduced bids for the timber sale contracts or
with trees when the company cashes in the purchaser road credits received
for constructing the logging road. The industry's responsibility for
maintaining the road ends with the end of the timber sale, leaving all
future maintenance costs to the taxpayer.
Is the Purchaser Road Credit Program a Subsidy to the Timber
Industry?
Independent analysis has shown Forest Service estimates of road
construction costs are as much as 30% above the actual road construction
cost incurred by the timber corporations. Because the Forest Service gives
the difference to the industry under the Purchaser Road Credit program,
companies often gain a windfall profit for building logging roads.
How Does Ending New Logging Roads Mean Savings to the Taxpayer?
Building new logging roads inevitably results in money losing
timber sales, because the cost of building roads in remote, steep, and
inhospitable terrain are so high. Overall, the GAO says the Forest Service
timber sale program lost $995 million between 1992-94. Ending new logging
roads would eliminate the least economic portion of the entire timber
program, as well as one of the most environmentally damaging.
How Do Logging Roads Harm Wildlife?
Roadbuilding threatens wildlife because it causes erosion of
soils, fragments intact forest ecosystems, exacerbates blowdown,
encourages invasions of forest pests and diseases, and reduces habitat for
many animals needing refuge from man. Scientists see unroaded areas as
critically important for maintaining wildlife diversity, restoring
declining fish stocks and protecting clean water.
Do Logging Roads Pollute Water Supplies?
"Our No. l water quality problem in the National Forest System is
roads," says USDA Undersecretary Jim Lyons. According to the Forest
Service, 922 communities get their drinking water from National Forest
streams that are frequently adversely affected by building logging roads.
In Idaho, over 960 streams are rated as "water quality limited" by the EPA
because of contamination; over half of these streams are degraded by
logging and roadbuilding.
Does Logging and Road Building Cause Landslides?
Yes. Road building and logging on steep or unstable slopes
increases the risk and severity of landslides and flooding, erosion and
siltation of streams. After the winter storms of 1995/96 in the Pacific
Northwest, the Forest Service found that in Idaho, 70% of the 422
landslides were associated with logging roads.
Are New Logging Roads Needed for Recreation?
No. According to the Forest Service, logging roads are built to a
lower standard and cost less than recreation and general purpose roads.
Logging roads are usually unpaved dirt and are often usable only by high
clearance vehicles, while recreation and general purpose roads are either
paved or gravel and are usable by all passenger cars. On average,
purchaser credit logging roads cost $15,000 per mile in 1996 while
recreation roads cost $63,000 and general purpose roads cost $65,500 per
mile. Price Waterhouse says this price difference is because "these roads
are built with additional safety and comfort features to handle several
types of traffic.S
Would Ending New Logging Road Construction Hurt Our Ability to
Fight Fires?
No. Over 90 percent of all fires that occur in the National
Forests are caused by humans and over half of those fires begin along
roads. Building more roads is likely to result in more fires and higher
fire fighting costs. The priority for fire fighting resources should be
the "human interface" zone near human habitation where forest fires create
risks to human life and property, not the "backcountry""where roadless
areas occur.
>>>>>These are a few reasons (I can think of more) to support a halt on
road building, the proposed moratorium is temporary until a solid road
policy can be determined, the Forest Service estimates 18 months. The
deadline for public comment is March 30. Petitions in favor can be found
throughout Moscow, Gambino's, The Food Co-op and other locations...
members of SEAC-Idaho (Student Environmental Action Coalition) will be
circulating these petitions until deadline.
The reason no signature is required is because we want the names legible
and the comments to be recognized, it's not a petition with any legalities
attached, for those who would like to support this moratorium more
publically SEAC is offering an option to be included in an advertisement
to run in the Spokesman Review on March 19, the day the FS will be in C'dA
formally addressing the public on this issue.
/donna anderson
Member SEAC-Idaho