Conservation News
Conservation bill deserves support
Hundreds of cities in Georgia, including Atlanta, get their water from rivers that have their origin in the Chattahoochee National Forest. The headwaters of those rivers are harmed by erosion and sediment from roads built mostly to accommodate loggers.
Last week, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) to protect those fragile areas that remain free of roads, and thereby protect their vital water resources. The bill, which would apply to 58 million acres nationwide, already has 172 sponsors.
It ought to have the support of every member of the Georgia congressional delegation because it directly affects the most important issue for the state today -- assurance of an adequate water supply. So far, however, only Democratic Reps. John Lewis and Cynthia McKinney have signed on.
The legislation wouldn't be necessary if Attorney General John Ashcroft and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman had kept their promises. At their confirmation hearings, both swore to uphold a Clinton-era rule conserving roadless areas.
But Ashcroft refused to defend the ban on more roads in a federal lawsuit brought by timber and mining interests. And Veneman allowed Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, to approve 30 new timber projects in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The Tongass already contains almost 5,000 miles of logging roads, built with an average $30 million annually of taxpayer subsidies to the timber industry.
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