Roadless Rule may be in peril

[NVMojo]

Recent decisions to lease nearly 90,000 acres of the Uinta National Forest for oil and gas exploration could wind up on a collision course with the Roadless Rule _ if the Bush Administration doesn't succeed in repealing it first.

The Forest Service, in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management, sold about 70,000 acres in oil and gas leases during a September auction, and another 17,000 acres Dec. 10. Most of the leased properties sit between Strawberry Reservoir and U.S. Highway 6 in Utah's Wasatch and Utah counties.

But because a portion of those 10-year leases overlap roadless areas _ land under federal regulation that bans development on designated national forest parcels _ opposition has been significant. A consortium of environmental, sportsman and outdoor recreation groups _ including the Wasatch Mountain Club, Black Diamond Equipment, the Wilderness Society, the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Trout Unlimited _ have protested the sales. And at least one group suggests that legal challenges could be in the offing.

more...

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ROADLESS-12-27-04

[illflem]

1. The NRA needs to get in on it too

after all they're losing their sacred hunting a fishing grounds. Many sportsman may soon realize they've been tree huggers all along.