The forest for the roads

From the San Diego Tribune:

The Bush administration Monday proposed lifting a national rule that closed remote areas of national forests to logging, instead saying states should decide whether to keep a ban on road-building in those areas.

Environmentalists immediately criticized the change as the biggest timber industry giveaway in history.

Under the proposal, governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building in remote areas of national forests. Allowing roads to be built would open the areas to logging.

The rule replaces one adopted by the Clinton administration and still under challenge in federal court. It covers about 58 million of the 191 million acres of national forest nationwide.

States would now have to petition to keep forests unpaved. Your forests unpaved. It would be akin to you having to petition all the burglars in your area to keep them from breaking into your home.

According to the Washington Post article on the same topic, enviromentalist point out that "nearly 2.5 million Americans submitted comments when Clinton considered the issue, with the vast majority favoring the roadless policy."

But why would the people need a say in how their forests get used, anyway?