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The Seattle Post Intelligencer
www.seattle-pi.com
Oregon rally protests plan to restrict forest access
THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday,
January 8, 2001
MEDFORD,
Ore. -- With signs and banners reading "Don't Lewinsky our Land" and
"Don't Monica our Mountains," a cavalcade of vehicles joined a rally
in Medford to denounce President Clinton's decision to bar road building and
most logging on 2 million acres in Oregon.
While
environmentalists are enthusiastic about the plan that puts stringent
requirements on nearly 60 million acres nationwide, opponents claim it will
hurt the timber industry and prevent access to wilderness areas.
On
Friday, 81,417 roadless acres on the Rogue River National Forest and 287,063
roadless acres on the Siskiyou were declared off limits to road building.
The
rally Saturday, attended by more than 1,000 people, was organized to draw
attention to the negative impacts of forest protection.
Kurt
Stark, president of the Jackson County branch of Frontiers of Freedom/People
for the U.S.A., said the plan could prove an environmental disaster.
"There is a lot of overstocking of trees. It is ready for a catastrophic
fire," he said.
Rep.
Greg Walden, R-Ore, said last week it would be an uphill fight by Congress or
the Bush Administration to overturn the president's declaration.
© 2001
The Associated Press.
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