I kind of see the point here (national forests are national) but in making decisions about them it is difficult, and unfair, to excluded the direct involvement of those most affected by those decisions, and allowing them to have a greater level of say than the national electorate has through their representatives seems appropriate.
Isn’t it really a federalism issue the President and Governor are responding to?
An excerpt.
Editorial: De-nationalized forests
Governor buys into Bush's roadless policy
Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, July 15, 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to astound tree huggers by embracing environmental policies that few Republican governors ever get close to, much less put their arms around.
This week, the governor petitioned the Bush administration to set aside 4.4 million acres of national forests in California as protected "roadless areas." Such areas are off-limits to mining, logging and road building, with narrow exceptions, such as for firefighting or other public emergencies.
If approved, this designation would affect 21 percent of the national forest land in the state, particularly in Southern California, where toll roads and energy projects are planned. Since our state is growing rapidly, with a population that is increasingly eager for uncrowded places to hike and recreate, leading conservationists lined up behind Schwarzenegger Wednesday to applaud his decision.
Their enthusiasm is understandable, but it needs to be tempered a bit.
By agreeing to petition the Bush administration, Schwarzenegger effectively is sanctioning the administration's policy on roadless areas -- a policy that sets a troubling precedent. When he came to office, Bush reversed a Clinton-era blueprint on roadless areas that would have preserved 57 million acres of forests nationwide. Bush set aside that policy and let governors in each affected state decide if they want to petition the federal government for roadless areas in their national forests.
Note the wording: roadless areas in national forests. The operative word is national. These lands belong to every American. Someone living in Idaho has as much stake in the management of public lands in California as does a Californian who likes to backpack in Idaho's forests.
