Saving forests aids economy, study says

Keeping roads and chain saws out of roadless areas is good for the economy, a study funded by a pro-wilderness organization concludes.

Rural residents say that's nonsense.

"I can't see how having less jobs can help the economy," Ferry County Commissioner Gary Kohler said. "You need jobs to keep the coffers full."

The U.S. Forest Service will host hearings on a federal proposal to ban new roads and other development in forest areas. The Clinton administration proposal would affect 43 million acres of roadless forests, including about 2 million acres in Washington.

University of Montana economics professor Thomas Power said Tuesday that the proposal would add economic stability to rural economies. Communities in eastern and southwestern Washington that previously were timber-dependent thrived even as logging decreased dramatically in the 1990s, his study showed.

Power's study of rural Washington was funded by the Wilburforce Foundation, a private, pro-wilderness philanthropic organization in Seattle.

Rural counties will always have high unemployment, Power said. "It comes with the territory."

But economic growth in places such as Okanogan and Ferry counties has kept pace with metropolitan areas, he said. Instead of cutting trees, workers are manufacturing products or building houses - often for people drawn to rural areas by the forests.

"The conclusion, which some folks find surprising, is that the economic vitality ... would be best assured by putting the roadless areas off-limits to both logging and road-building," Power said.

Environmentalists called on a successful Spokane businessman to lend credibility to the study. Paul Fish, owner of Mountain Gear, said similar sporting goods stores in Seattle have failed because their customers don't have easy access to the backcountry.

"Many of us came here from outside the region for the quality of life, a place where you can get out in the woods to fish, hunt, hike or climb," said Fish, whose business employs 70 people.

Chris West, vice president of the Northwest Forestry Association in Portland, said rural communities would have done better had timber extraction been healthy.

"The simple fact is, anything outside the Interstate 5 and Interstate 90 corridor is struggling with double-digit unemployment and four-day schools, because they don't have the money," West said.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

PUBLIC MEETING

Road proposal

The U.S. Forest Service will host a series of public hearings on a proposal to ban new roads in roadless areas of the forests.

Thursday from 2 to 7 p.m. at Spokane City Council Chambers, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Tuesday, June 19, at Colville Community College, 985 S. Elm, from 2 to 10 p.m.

Wednesday, June 21, at Idaho Panhandle National Forest headquarters, 3815 Schreiber Way in Coeur d'Alene, from 4 to 7 p.m.

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