Today's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturning the Idaho District Court's preliminary injunction on the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is an outstanding victory for conservation of the Nation's headwaters rivers and streams.

The Ninth Circuit Court's ruling reflects the wishes of the millions of Americans who participated in the most inclusive rulemaking in federal rulemaking history. More than 1.6 million comments were received and more than 600 public hearings were held throughout the country in the formulation of this landmark policy that protects 58.5 million acres of America's last wildforests from most logging and roadbuilding.

American Whitewater encourages the Administration to honor today's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court and implement the January 12, 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule immediately.

Notably this decision comes a day after the Forest Service released the Bush Administration's Healthy Forests Initiative, which is designed to reduce the forest fire risk in the West through Forest thinning, logging, and expedited environmental assessments.