SACRAMENTO — Ending one of his remaining fights with environmentalists, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the federal government today to protect 4.4 million acres of national forests from any new roads for timber, oil or gas exploration or other development.
If approved, the Schwarzenegger plan would allay environmentalists' fears that national forest land in California would be opened to development, endangering fish and wildlife. The governor's request was in response to a controversial Bush administration rule that opened millions of "roadless" areas nationwide.
"Having a Republican governor of a western state, with a large amount of roadless areas, stand up to protect all the areas sends an important signal to the rest of the country," said Sara Barth, California regional director of the Wilderness Society.
Schwarzenegger is scheduled to unveil his plan today at a Capitol news conference. He is effectively embracing a Clinton administration ban on new roads and timber harvesting on national forest land that includes the increasingly crowded Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland forests in Southern California.
President Bush canceled the ban in late 2004 and asked each governor to propose specific areas for protection covering 58.5 million acres. Schwarzenegger's petition is in response to that request.
Separately, the state Resources Agency intends to appeal a plan by the Forest Service to open more than 1 million acres of forest land in Southern California to potential development, administration officials said. A toll road and hydroelectric plant have been proposed at the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, for example.
California has more than 20 million acres of national forest, about 22% of which is designated undeveloped -- or roadless -- except for hiking and other recreational activities. In Southern California, the forests are important habitat for endangered species such as the California condor, even as housing developments inch closer.
Although environmentalists were generally pleased with Schwarzenegger's efforts to combat global warming and reduce air pollution, they had remained cautious about the forestry plan because it appeared initially that he could align himself with the Bush administration.
But on Tuesday, Ryan Henson, policy director of the California Wilderness Coalition, said the Schwarzenegger petition gives national forests protections just as strong as the Clinton administration rules. He called the governor's plan "outstanding."
