November 1, 2005

Attorney General Mike Hatch
State Capitol
75 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Room 102
St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Attorney General Hatch:

You have a long history of providing leadership on issues of national importance, and now we hope you will heed an opportunity that helps the environment. We urge you to protect wild lands in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest by joining a lawsuit filed by three other states. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a federal policy that allows logging, mining, and road building on 58 million acres of the country’s remaining wild areas, including 62,000 acres in Minnesota. Without protection of these fragile lands, recreational opportunities, clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, and open space will be sacrificed.

In May, the Bush Administration repealed the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protected these wild lands from most road building and logging. The White House made its decision despite overwhelming national support for the original rule. During the review of the rule, more than 24,000 Minnesotans submitted comments, including 97 percent favoring permanent protection of our roadless areas.

The new policy fails to conserve roadless areas, disregards the protections the public wants for its land, and was not developed with adequate environmental review. In response, the Governor of Oregon and the Attorneys General of California and New Mexico have filed a legal challenge to overturn this new roadless rule. We anticipate that additional states will join them as plaintiffs.

The State of Minnesota should join this legal challenge because our wild lands are at risk. In April, Superior National Forest officials announced plans to cut 16,000 acres near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Some of this logging will occur in eight roadless areas left unprotected under the new roadless rule. This massive timber project is the forest’s largest in ten years and would leave lasting scars on the edge of the wilderness. If the 2001 Roadless Rule had been left intact, these areas would have been off limits.

We believe the lawsuit is the best way to obtain clear judicial direction on roadless area management. We have attached the complaint filed in this lawsuit for your review. Note that the

State of Minnesota’s participation in the lawsuit does not preclude it from simultaneously participating in the alternative “petition process” created by the new roadless rule.

We hope that you will join California, Oregon, and New Mexico to press for strong, legal protections for America’s wild lands. The deadline for joining the lawsuit is November 7, 2005. Should you have questions about the lawsuit, please contact Sean Wherley of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness at (612) 332-9630. Thank you in advance for your consideration, and we look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Mankato Area Environmentalists
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Sierra Club, North Star Chapter
Alliance for Sustainability
CREED
Duluth Audubon Society
Audubon Minnesota
EAGLE
NE Minnesotans for Wilderness
Miss. Corridor Neighborhood Coalition
American P.I.E.
MN Ornithologists' Union
Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation
League of Women Voters - Minnesota
Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis
Conservation League of Edina
Women's Cancer Resource Center/Preventing Harm Minnesota
Minnesota Council Trout Unlimited