BRC Files Suit in Roadless Plan Battle

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RECREATION GROUPS DROP LEGAL HAMMER ON ROADLESS PLAN


BOISE, ID -* The BlueRibbon* Coalition (BRC) , together
with other recreationists, resource users, Native Americans, and rural
counties, today filed suit against President Clinton's Roadless Initiative.
The outgoing President's decision, released last Friday, would set aside
up to 60 million acres of national forest lands from active management by
preventing new road construction and maintenance of the existing
transportation network.

Paul Turcke, a member of the groups' legal team and the BRC's lead counsel,
said, "Contrary to the Plan's title and media spin, these areas contain
numerous roads and trails which have long facilitated a broad spectrum of
recreational activities.* We are pleased to be a part of this diverse
coalition of interests united by the fight against this Plan's blunderbuss
approach to Forest management."

"Very few will be able to enjoy recreation in these so-called 'roadless'
lands if thousands of miles of existing roads are closed or obliterated,"
says Adena Cook, Public Lands Director for the BRC.

** "Healthy forests and strong wildlife populations don't happen by
accident.
These lands require active management.* Instead of a legacy of strong
on-the-ground management, the Clinton Administration has chosen to squander

its human resources and money drawing big circles on maps in Washington DC
without attempting to understand the unique and complex forest habitats
inside those circles," Cook concludes.

"Backcountry equestrian groups, four-wheel drive enthusiasts and others who
use primitive roads to access their favorite recreation areas are the folks
who are going to be harmed by Clinton's roadless agenda," said Don Amador,
the BRC's Western Representative. "The plan also fails to address the
potential* for catastrophic wildfire impacts to the existing resource and
recreation
infrastructure."

"The green groups and the Clinton administration have downplayed the true
scope of opposition to their land lock-up agenda.* This suit should send a
strong signal that the multiple-use community is not going to stand silent
to* public land mismanagement any longer," Amador concludes.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.* In
addition to BRC, named plaintiffs in the suit are the Kootenai Tribe of
Idaho, Boise and Valley Counties, Idaho, the Idaho State Snowmobile
Association, the Illinois Association of Snowmobile Clubs, the American
Council of Snowmobile Associations, Little Cattle Company Limited
Partnership, Highland Livestock and Land Company, and Boise Cascade
Corporation.

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