As a child my family spent every summer in a Chevy Greenbrier Van traveling to every National Park and any other tourist traps you can imagine. I remember going on Route 66 when it was the only way to get from the mid west to Southern Calif in 1963. The interstate freeway system had not been completed yet.

I loved the national parks and the forests, camping was cheap, fun and we could stay one day or 2 weeks. My dad was retired and disabled so we had the "Eagle Pass" is what they called it back then, I think it was twenty dollars for the entire year and you could use and campground in the park system. They are protected for us so we can enjoy nature, the Bush Administration of course thinks mining companies and oil companies are more entitled to search and drill these same parks, so they ignored EPA rules, Endangered Species Acts etc, to open the land up.

This article from the Seattle Times explains the ruling and the order to suspend permits under the "new rules"

The battle between environmental groups and the administration over the forest rules centers on changes to environmental protections that had been in place since the Reagan administration. Under the old policy, the government had to maintain viable populations of native wildlife in forests and monitor some populations regularly, while limiting logging and drilling for oil and gas. The new rule — which gave economic activities as high a priority as maintaining the forest's ecological health — made it easier to conduct drilling and logging in national forests while weakening protections for native fish and wildlife. It also accelerated the process for approving forest-management plans, which can drag on for as long as seven years. Environmental groups hailed the decision Friday as a major victory. They said it will force the Bush administration to rethink the way it oversees forests and grasslands, which make up 8 percent of the country's land. "The national forest-planning rules are like the Constitution for our national forests, and the Bush administration tried to throw out the Bill of Rights," said Earthjustice lawyer Trent Orr, who argued the case before the court on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

I am glad the judge ruled for the forests, and against the administration, because it would take centuries to undue the damage some of the mining companies and oil companies could do to the lands that we as a nation own.

I am glad to see that there are still some people willing to stand up and tell King George NO you can't do it your way just because you want to, we have laws, and even you and your friends have to obey them.