Obama administration approves logging in national forest; environmental community outraged

July 16th, 2009

Photo via Flickr: Amanderson2

The environmental world is abuzz today with the breaking news that earlier this week, the Obama administration approved a logging contract for a 381-acre swath of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The report, which first appeared in yesterday’s Juneau Empire, hit the front page of this morning’s Huffington Post, and also leads its green section with the giant title: “TREES VS. JOBS.”

And from Mother Nature Network‘s Shea Gunther:

Not cool President Obama. Not cool at all…. This first sale will come after 7 miles of roads are built for the 381-acre clear cut. This makes Hulk mad. [Secretary of Agriculture Tom] Vilsack said that the main reason he approved of the sale was to provide jobs to the area. Here’s a radical idea — those loggers should get new jobs not involving cutting down old growth trees.

The approved logging area is located in a roadless section of the 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest, a temperate rain forest that is home to endangered plants and wildlife. Of the nearly 7 miles of road that will have to be built for the sale, contractors have reportedly already built a mile.

While it’s reasonable to be outraged at the decision by Mr. Vilsack, it’s important to note that the situation could be a lot worse were it not for the Obama administration’s decision earlier this year to impose a one-year “time-out” on road building in all national forests. The administration did this as the first step in restoring President Clinton’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects nearly 60 million acres of national forests. The rule had been seriously undermined by the Bush administration, which exempted large areas from the directive.

And let’s not forget that in March, President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, one of the most significant pieces of conservation legislation in decades. The law sets aside more than 2 million additional acres of wilderness in nine states.

Still, while this logging deal may account for a mere 381 acres of the Tongass’ 17 million, I worry that until the Obama administration makes a long-term decision on the roadless rule next year, this may be only the beginning.