Preservation In the News

You could call it the war of the woods. The state's super-movie-hero turned environmentalist governor versus Washington regulators of the Federal lands empire. At issue: vast tracts of untouched forest land and open space.

While Governor Schwarzenegger touted the start of much needed levee repair work today, he said he's about to ask the Bush administration to protect California's 4.4 million acres of roadless federal forestland within the state.

Governor Schwarzenegger: "We are right now, as we speak, working on that, to finalize that. And tomorrow we will make an announcement."

The federal petition is necessary because President Bush last year scrapped the hard-fought Clinton-era law that protected the last remaining untouched wilderness in America's national forest system.

But the President gave states until this November to ask the feds to keep the protections in place. Environmental groups are worried that new roads allowed for timber harvesting and oil drilling will ruin the land's vital and recreational values.

Dan Jacobson, Environment California: "They're important for clean water. We get millions of dollars of our clean water come through these protected areas. And they're critical to our tourist economy."

Environmentalists are already critical of President Bush. He signed a landmark forest bill at the end of 2003 to make it easier to thin out overgrown forests that fuel devastating wildfires.

President Bush: "We'll help save lives and property. And we'll help protect our forests from sudden and needless destruction."

But, critics said that "healthy forest" plan gave the logging industry greater access to untouched areas. They feel it will get worse if this roadless protection isn't kept in place.

Dan Jacobson, Environment California: "The oil and gas guys and the timber companies already have access to so much land, that we just need to protect this little bit for future generations."

California joins four other states, including another republican governor, in requesting protection of its roadless national forests.