Speak up for 45 Million Acres of Roadless Public Lands, Defend the Roadless Rule
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its plans to strip millions of acres of pristine forest lands of their protections, including more than 45 million acres across the country and nearly 10 million acres in Greater Yellowstone. Urgently, we need you to speak up for public lands – again.
Expansive views within a Roadless Area in Idaho. Photo Forest Service/David Deschaine
The USDA is proposing to repeal the 25-year-old Roadless Rule, which sets aside wild areas in our national forests from road building and commercial logging to protect iconic wildlife, clean drinking water, and our outdoor recreation heritage. Read more about the Roadless Rule from GYC’s Conservation Director Kathy Rinaldi and learn just how much is at stake here.
In Montana and Wyoming, roadless areas make up nearly 10 million acres of our public lands – where we hunt, hike, fish, ride, wildlife watch, and more. Idaho has its own roadless rule which was not included in the USDA’s rollback proposal.
Montana: 16.9 million acres; 6.4 million roadless acres
Wyoming: 9.2 million acres; 3.3 million roadless acres
First there was an attempt by members of Congress to sell off public lands. Now, this administration wants to sell out our nation’s public forests by opening remote, protected areas to industrial development like large-scale commercial logging, oil-and-gas drilling, and associated road building. Once these lands are gone, they’re gone. We can’t let that happen.
The repeal puts at risk clean drinking water, our recreation economy, and increases the risk of wildfires. Not to mention that building more roads in national forests would be a drain on taxpayers. Even with the Roadless Rule in place, the Forest Service already has a 380,000-mile road system – twice as long as the nation’s highway system – crisscrossing national forests.
It’s worth remembering that the Roadless Rule is a highly popular policy that is often celebrated as one of America’s most successful conservation measures. Prior to its enactment, more than 600 public hearings were held nationwide, and 1.6 million Americans weighed in to call for protection of these forestlands. More recently, more than 45 members of the House and Senate have signed onto legislation that would codify the Roadless Rule so that in the future, it could not be rolled back without an act of Congress.
The federal comment period starts today, and we only have three weeks to generate as much public support for our forests as possible. Act by September 19!
— Kathy Rinaldi, Director of Conservation [Driggs, ID]