President Bush's order to end federal protection of these areas wrongly takes their management out of the hands of far-sighted federal agencies and gives it to governors, most of them in the West, who are much more open to pressure from potential campaign donors and local industries looking to make a fast buck.

The fate of Utah's 4 million acres of remaining roadless forests - some of the most important for water quality, recreation and wildlife habitat - will be left largely in the hands of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., whose overriding concern is economic development.

He will have 18 months to decide whether to petition the U.S. Forest Service to continue roadless protection in parts of the Uinta Mountains, Boulder Mountain in Dixie National Forest, the LaSal Mountains near Moab and the Abajo Mountains near Blanding.

If the governor does not petition to keep the forests roadless, the areas could be open to sanctioned plundering, primarily by oil and gas companies that, in today's energy market, have a huge economic incentive to go after them. Empowering a governor to make such far-reaching decisions for forests that belong to all Americans amounts to the wholesale abandonment of what is clearly a federal responsibility.

We do agree that local Forest Service offices should have greater management authority to mitigate, and in some cases prevent, depredations from insects, disease, invasive non-native plants and wildfires that threaten homes and businesses. Roads for those purposes are already allowed on 44 percent of Utah's roadless forests.

The Bush administration's order will undoubtedly be challenged in court, as it should be. More broadly, though, Utahns who are concerned about the national forests being sacrificed to our short-sighted energy policy, or subjected to the short-term economic pressures and political winds that constantly buffet state and local officials, should let the governor know.