Protections for 1.2 million acres of Arizona public forests in limbo

TUCSON, AZ — 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, including nearly 1.2 million acres in Arizona. 

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. This final public comment period lasts just 30 days.  

Arizona’s roadless areas include some of the state’s most iconic backcountry destinations. These areas protect parts of Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino, Coronado, Kaibab, Prescott and Tonto national forests — providing refuge for iconic wildlife like the mule deer, elk, mountain lion, black bear, Mexican gray wolf, Mexican spotted owl and javelina.   

The release of the DEIS 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 Arizona State Director, Mike Quigley said: 

"Gutting the Roadless Rule would be the single largest rollback of public land conservation in our nation’s history. Arizona's roadless areas include some the state's most iconic landscapes — safeguarding clean drinking water, protecting wildlife habitat and preserving the freedom to experience pristine public lands. What we protect today will shape what future generations inherit." 

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Wildfires are 7x more likely to start near roads in Arizona 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 seven times more likely to start near roads than in Arizona’s 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. 

For media inquiries, contact Keri Gilliland, senior communications manager at kgilliland@tws.org.