The Sierra Club is reporting that one of the most significant public lands protections in U.S. history is facing repeal, with the public comment period closing October 6. It said that if the Roadless Rule is repealed, 45 million acres of national forests would be opened to road building, logging, mining and other extractive industries.
The organization said the rule has protected the country's most treasured national forests from logging, drilling, mining, development and road building for 25 years, and that the Trump administration is now trying to tear it down. It said the rule is not marked on trail signs or ranger district maps, but that many of the nation's favorite wild, expansive and intact national forests are roadless.
The Sierra Club said the Forest Service received 1.6 million comments when it created the rule in 2001, more than 95 percent of them in support of strong protections, and that leadership responded by making the policy even stronger. It said the public must show the administration it still feels the same way, and that the only way to do so is through a large volume of comments.
The group also disputed arguments that repeal would reduce wildfire risk. It said 85 percent of wildfires are started by humans and that more roads mean more ignitions, so repeal would likely make things worse. It said roadless areas were never logged because they are remote, rugged and often hold little merchantable timber, meaning opening them could lead to taxpayer-funded projects that sell timber at a loss.
The Sierra Club said the case for the rule is stronger than ever, citing habitat loss from climate change and development, a growing Forest Service road maintenance backlog and continued broad public support for protecting public lands. It said more than 250,000 people have already taken action and urged others to submit comments before the deadline.