LINCOLN, NE — Environmental groups are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to create a $500 million Forest Watershed Restoration Corps within the National Forest Service that would be similar to President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, according to a December 11 article on SustainableBusiness.com.
The Legacy Roads Restoration Initiative, which proposed the program, is asking Obama to fund the Forest Watershed Restoration Corps as part of the economic stimulus package currently being planned by Congress and Obama’s transition team.
The program would restore ecologically damaged forest watersheds while creating 3,500 high-skill, family-wage jobs per year in rural communities, the article said.
“The first, and most important, step toward protecting clean drinking water, productive fisheries and critical wildlife habitat is to take care of the crumbling road system,” Emily Platt, executive director of the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which oversees protection of national forests in southwest Washington, said in the article. “National forests in Washington alone have a $300 million backlog just to meet minimum clean water standards.”
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