The Forest Service didn’t ask them to show up. They did anyway.
Audience speaks up on the Roadless Rule
Brendan Ladd
Thousands turn up to defend the Roadless Rule
On an evening in April, about 200 people gathered at The Mule in Asheville, North Carolina, to raise their voice in support of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, also known as the Roadless Rule. Though the administration’s proposed repeal of the rule is hugely significant—it would strip protections from about 45 million acres of national forests nationwide—the people of Asheville weren’t invited by Forest Service to attend a public hearing on the issue, which ordinarily would have been a standard part of the process to roll out a major agency proposal. So, they took matters into their own hands.
After the Forest Service announced it would not host public hearings, concerned advocates organized and took to conference rooms, breweries and community spaces across the country for at least 60 “people’s hearing[s]” to urge the agency to keep the rule in place, and roadless forests protected. The message of this grassroots uprising was clear: Those who care about our shared forests were going to make their voices heard, regardless of whether the leadership in Washington provided an official venue.
The administration’s evasive approach stands in sharp contrast to what the Forest Service did in 2001, when the Roadless Rule was proposed: The agency hosted 600 public hearings and generated over 1.6 million comments, more than had been submitted for any other rule in the nation's history.
That the movement to preserve the Roadless Rule 25 years later inspired such homegrown ingenuity speaks to what’s at stake if the administration gets its way. The Roadless Rule helps protect drinking water for 25 million people, provides habitat for thousands of wildlife, bird and fish species, and safeguards access to nearly 22,000 miles of trails through some of our most remote, intact forests. Repealing the Rule could also increase the risk of wildfires.
Millions of acres of national forests at risk without the Roadless Rule
The recent town halls gave voice to the forests that sustain us in so many ways. The rule makes it possible to experience the freedom and solitude of the backcountry; to access clean, cool waters; to take a grandkid on their first bow hunt or hear a chorus of morning birdsong on a camping trip. For Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities, the rule conserves forests that hold creation stories, sacred places and burial grounds. For agency staff, the rule provides a dependable, funded structure for managing our national forests.
Erase the rule, and we risk losing all that—and losing America's last intact forested backcountry.
Cardboard cutout of USFS Chief Schultz
Brendan Ladd
The administration can't seem to see the forest for the trees. It's our job to continue speaking out and submitting comments in support of the Roadless Rule, now through Oct. 6—even if they don’t want to give us the tools to do it.
The Wilderness Society is proud to have supported and attended the Roadless town halls in Alaska, California, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.
