This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE 5/12/05

It should not be taken lightly.
I’m referring to the recent action of the administration that reversed last minute roadless land rulings by the Clinton administration.
As he was leaving office, President Bill Clinton signed a measure that put over 55 million acres of national forest lands under a ban on any road building, thus setting these lands apart from mostly such things as logging, clearing, recreation and such.
It was this action that ended Jeld-Wen’s effort to establish a ski resort on Pelican Butte....an area ideally suited for such use, and one that certainly would have greatly added to the recreational facilities of the county.
As a matter of fact, such a ski resort would be complimented by the Running Y, for instance, and we certainly hope that the company will make another effort in the light of the recent administration ruling.
What the ruling does is give states 18 months in which to petition the federal government to protect certain lands.
Governor Kulongoski has already opposed the move, but has indicated that he will appoint a committee to re evaluate the roadless areas of the state’s national forests and determine future actions.
Mark Ray, undersecretary of Agriculture, said: “If we weren’t serious about working with the states, we wouldn’t be taking this approach in the first place.”
Administration officials cited wildfire damage to habitat of the northern spotted owl, for instance, and that authorities may need continued access into roadless areas in firefighting alone.
Until this action, use of the federal forest lands was solely in the hands of federal agencies, yet I have long felt that the state should have some say in various policies of these federal agencies when it came to the millions of acres in their state. The policies of these federal agencies certainly have a strong bearing on such issues as tourism and recreation, along with economic effects on various communities.
There are some two million acres of forest land in Oregon that has been declared roadless areas under the former Clinton rulings. Now
the state can review the use and the needs of these lands and petition the government to either leave them roadless or to permit certain uses inside them.
It is pointed out that over two million of the total put into roadless by Clinton actually already had roads in them.
A member of the society of American Foresters said: They’re trying to make sure people who are most affected have a real place in the discussion, and I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.”
We totally agree and hope that Governor Kulongoski will not let his environmental supporters short change the discussion.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.