wild animal amnesty
UPDATE: Supreme Court Ruling Makes It A No-Go For Attempts To Overturn Roadless Rule. 10/8/12: The collective voice of many animal and environmental advocacy groups pays off again! Kinship Circle registered firm opposition with USDA Forest Service to Bush admin proposals to overturn President Clinton's Roadless Area Conversation Rule. The Supreme Court has opted to not hear an appeal to a prior 10th Circuit Court ruling that upheld the Roadless Rule. This is a big win for wild animals, especially those threatened or endangered, whom inhabit the 58.5 million acres of national forest (out of 192 million acres total) without roads. According to U.S. Forest Service, Tongass National Forest alone is home to animals uncommon in other parts of the U.S. “Biologists estimate that 1,700 coastal brown (grizzly) bears roam Admiralty Island and share the island with large populations of nesting bald eagles. The Alexander Archipelago wolf lives in Southeast Alaska. Mountain goats climb along steep, rocky crags above the timberline. Other animals such as moose, deer, beaver, fox and porcupine are common throughout the forest. All five species of Pacific salmon (chum, coho, king, pink and sockeye) thrive and spawn in the streams and waters of the Tongass National Forest. Dolly Varden char, and rainbow, steelhead, and cutthroat trout are common freshwater fish.”
Over the course of an 11-year struggle, those advocating Clinton-admin immunity for roadless areas staunchly oppose opening natural woodlands to road construction, logging, mining, oil/gas and other industrial development. Roadless regions are not only vital haven for animals, but also encompass sources of drinkable water for humans. Environment News Service: Jane Danowitz of the Pew Environment group points out that this Roadless Rule win is the result of the largest public lands review in U.S. history, with more than 1.2 million comments and 600 public hearings. The “Supreme Court action validates one of America's most important and popular land conservation policies,” Danowitz says. “Without the national standard of protection the rule provides, millions of acres of America's last pristine national forests could be lost to logging and other industrial development.”
- Editorial NoteDuring Donald Trump's Republican administration in 2019, protections for Tongass National Forest are once again stripped from the Roadless Rule. In 2021: Biden officials move to reinstate Alaska roadless rule, overturning Trump policy.
