Readers who care about the long term health of our environment need to become aware of HR 1581, the Roadless Area Release Act. This act, if successful in Congress, would strip protections from every acre of roadless areas within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and another 2 million acres in the state of Washington. Additionally, nearly 60 million acres of wilderness lands would be in jeopardy of logging, road building, mining and other development.
This proposal currently before the U.S. House of Representatives must be stopped. The Republican leadership has gone too far on this one. U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, must be proactive and work to ensure this legislation does not come to fruition.
As president and on behalf of the Vancouver Wildlife League, I urge our representative to do the right thing and not support this proposal. We hope other individuals and groups will lobby to keep our wilderness areas indeed wilderness.
Larry W. Snyder
Vancouver
