Add to the list of environmentalists opposed to President Bush's plan to remove roadless protection from some 60 million acres of remote federal forests an unlikely entrant: Small woodland owners.

People such as Mark Woodall of LaGrange in west Georgia believe that opening up large swaths of roadless forest to logging, drilling for oil or natural gas, and mining would benefit the big companies. For the smaller operators, it would not only mean being cut out of the action but also of having to survive in a market glutted with domestic lumber.

Already, that market is unstable, subject to influence by everything from beetle infestations to the growing market popularity of wood composites of wood chips and glue to more expensive timber.

Woodall is working now with the Sierra Club in hopes that enough people like him will speak out against the proposal (which would leave the fate of roadless forests up to governors of individual states) before the official comment period ends Sept. 4.

That woodland owners are aligning with environmentalists is not unprecedented.

In the West, environmentalists have united with cattle ranchers as a choice over seeing ranches sold and developed into massive subdivisions as vacation homes for the rich of Hollywood and Europe.

Locally, many people see that having to endure a few episodes of field burning every summer is a cheap price to pay for open spaces and green fields the rest of the year.

Although some people still can't say the word "environmentalist" without adding the sneering "extremist" to it, many others see environmental awareness as nothing more than choosing the least wasteful, most "reusable" alternative in personal or business decisions. It's a time-honored idea that dates back far beyond old chestnuts such as "Waste not; want not" and "Use it up, make it do or go without."

Professional foresters point out that plantation forests are the wave of the future, and they make good sense. That also argues for the wisdom of leaving the roadless areas intact as long as feasible.