Last call for Roadless Rule: Admin opens final 30-day comment period
Tongass National Forest, Alaska
Colin Arisman
Opening backcountry forests will increase wildfire risk at a time when Forest Service is reeling with budget cuts and capacity shortages
Today, the USDA announced that it has filed a proposed rule to fully repeal the U.S. Forest Service’s 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The 2001 Roadless Rule protects 45 million acres of national forest lands from roadbuilding and logging.
The Notice of Intent to repeal the rule was announced last August, bringing in over 600,000 public comments, the vast majority of which were opposed to repealing the conservation measure.
The release of the proposed rule and accompanying draft environmental impact statement comes while wildfires rage across the country. Repealing protections for our nation’s most intact, backcountry areas is not a wildfire solution. In fact, opening the door for more roads in forests increases the chances of ignition.
In response to the news, The Wilderness Society’s Director of Conservation Campaigns, Josh Hicks said:
“Americans cherish their public lands and deserve leaders who protect them now and for future generations. Gutting the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is simply not an option – too many communities, ecosystems, wildlife species and local economies depend on keeping these wild forests healthy and undisturbed. Opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development, and therefore more ignitions, is also not a wildfire solution, and never will be. The Administration needs to hear us loud and clear: our roadless forests are some of the most important ecosystems across this country and must be managed as such.”
Wildfires are 4x more likely to start near roads than in roadless forests
Since last summer, the Trump administration has claimed repealing the Roadless Rule would allow for “fire prevention”. But new research says the opposite. In fact, wildfires are four times more likely to start near roads than in roadless forests.
The research examined a large, nationwide dataset to determine whether roads on the national forests are associated with higher ignition risk, and they examined patterns of fire size to see whether wilderness and roadless areas are associated with larger fires.
The results suggest that building roads into roadless areas is likely to result in more fires. These fires will, on average, be smaller than fires farther from roads, but there will be more of them, and some of them will grow to become large fires.
According to USDA, the proposed rule will be in the federal register reading room tomorrow and formally published in the Federal Register on Thursday. Public comments will be accepted until midnight on Sept. 21, for only a 30-day comment period. Information will be available Aug. 19 on the Forest Service Roadless Areas webpage.
To speak with forest policy and science experts, as well as wildland firefighters and fire experts, contact Emily Denny, Senior Communications Manager, edenny@tws.org or 202-240-1788
