Bush administration policies hurt fish, wildlife populations

By now many have heard about the Bush administration's controversial proposal to revoke the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The original rule would protect over 58.5 million acres of wild public forest lands in America, including millions of acres of grizzly and salmon habitat in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and over one-half million acres in the Appalachians. To date, 3 million people have voiced their support for protecting these wild undeveloped forests.

You might not have heard about another administration proposal that threatens America's forests and wildlife. Late last month the Bush administration announced a policy to excuse National Forest supervisors from a Reagan-era mandate that they maintain viable populations of fish and wildlife species that may be affected by their management decisions.

What does this mean? Forest managers must maintain trees, but they don't need to maintain forest-dwelling wildlife. Hunters, anglers, and all others that understand the importance of our public lands for fish and wildlife should be outraged at this latest Bush administration attack.

Katherine Polan , Anchorage