Former Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell and members of R.E.M. and Pearl Jam continue their crusade to help the Washington Wilderness Coalition's campaign to protect roadless areas of national forests and state parks from aggressive logging by privately-owned companies.

Especially endangered are three million acres of unprotected Washington forests. R.E.M.'s Peter Buck told MTV News on Saturday that when he flew over Olympic National Park to view the clearcutting first hand, he was horrified to see terrain that "looked like a parking lot."

"They'll clear cut an acre in a checkerboard pattern," Buck explained. "One acre would be cut down and another left standing... But that alternate acre can't sustain certain plant or animal life anymore because they need the tree coverage."

Although the Washington Wilderness Coalition isn't a zero cut operation (they do support logging in certain areas) they are opposed to the construction of logging roads in untouched forests.

"From the air, you'd see a five acre plot and there'd be eight roads bisecting through it three times," said Buck. "It doesn't make any sense."

As we first reported last week, Buck did a PSA for the coalition, filmed near Mount Rainier (see "R.E.M.'s Peter Buck Cuts Conservation-Minded Public Service Announcement").

A spokesman for the Forest Service told MTV that logging can promote forest health and the reason that national forests were created was to "protect watersheds and provide timber." Buck admits that musicians don't have much political clout; a meeting requested in September by the Seattle rock contingent requesting a meeting with Vice President Al Gore still hasn't occurred (see "Pearl Jam, R.E.M. And Chris Cornell Want To Discuss Environment With Vice President"). Buck does hope that policy makers can be "embarrassed" into making the right environmental choice if enough attention is raised to the problem.

This month the forest service will decide whether to include the Northwest in a proposed moratorium on logging road construction. If you've got something to say about it, you can call toll-free 1-877-2ACT-NOW or contact the Forest Service on their website at www.fs.fed.us.