Poll Says Many Are For Clinton's Forest Road Plan
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Nearly three-quarters of Westerners support a proposal to protect from development an additional 50 million acres of national forest, according to a survey.

The poll, conducted between Dec. 28 and Jan. 2 by American Viewpoint, involved 1,000 registered voters. It was commissioned by the Heritage Forests Campaign of Washington, D.C.

Nationwide, 76 percent of those surveyed agreed with President Clinton's roadless-area initiative. In the West, 72 percent backed it.

The question posed to respondents was:

"National forest lands in the United States total 192 million acres. Fifty-one percent of this land has already been logged, mined or has roads, and remains open to commercial development. Eighteen percent is permanently protected. The remaining 31 percent are wild but unprotected roadless areas. The Clinton administration has proposed to protect nearly all of these remaining wild but unprotected areas. This means it could be used for most types of recreation, but that logging, new roads, mining, oil drilling and off-road vehicles would be prohibited. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?"

Fifty-one percent of Westerners surveyed said the United States does not have enough land permanently protected in national forests. Nationwide, 54 percent said so.

American Viewpoint is "a leading Republican pollster," according to a news release from the Heritage Forests Campaign and the National Environmental Trust.

"The poll demonstrates that support for the forest protection plan extends across party, demographic and geographic lines," the release said. "Support was widespread even among those who are the president's biggest critics. Sixty-two percent of Republicans support the plan, as do 65 percent of self-described conservatives."

David Henderson, executive director of National Audubon-New Mexico, added: "New Mexico has a rich and well-deserved legacy of wild-land protection and it is reassuring, but not surprising, that New Mexicans have expressed strong support to protect over 1.5 million additional acres of New Mexico's national heritage."

About 750,000 of those acres are in the Gila National Forest -- areas of 5,000 acres or more that contain no officially open roads.

"The survey confirms that Americans, no matter what their political affiliation, strongly believe in protecting our national forests," said Ken Rait, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign. "President Clinton is clearly listening to the wishes of the American people by moving to protect our last remaining wild forests for future generations."

Sam Hitt, director of Forest Guardians of Santa Fe, said in a news release that the poll "should be a wake-up call for Republicans opposed to protecting national forests."

The poll also revealed that, by a margin of 60 to 31 percent, "Americans oppose allowing logging, mining and other industrial activities on national forest lands," the release reported.

The Republican Party continues to trail Democrats on the issue of which party will "do a better job of protecting the environment (23 percent to 41 percent) and which party will "maintain a balance between economic growth and protecting the environment (25 percent to 41 percent)," the survey found.

Fifty-six percent said Clinton should use his authority and bypass Congress to protect roadless areas, while 48 percent disagreed.

The Forest Service plans to release a draft environmental impact statement this spring, when additional public input will be permitted. The agency has received more than one-half million public comments on the plan, "with the vast majority in support of the president's proposal," the release said.

The administration and Forest Service are expected to implement the final plan this fall.

Another poll, conducted in June 1999 by the Mellman Group, "showed that 63 percent of U.S. residents believe the amount of national forest land protected (18 percent) is insufficient," the release said. Just 6 percent of the respondents said the country is protecting too much land.

According to a July 1999 poll, one-third of U.S. residents would prefer to use the budget surplus to invest in parks and open spaces rather than receive a tax cut.

American Viewpoint released research this month showing that 87 percent of respondents believed "protecting the last third of our wild national forest lands is an important legacy for future generations."

The Heritage Forests Campaign "is an alliance of conservationists, educators, scientists, clergy and ordinary Americans who are working together to ensure that our unprotected scenic wilderness forests are permanently protected," the release stated.

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