The Trump administration Monday reversed the “roadless rule” protecting 30% of National Forest land from development after nearly a quarter century of land set-asides, knocking down one of the hard-fought pillars of open space protections in Colorado and across the nation.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who announced the turnabout at a meeting of western governors in New Mexico, said the move opens the way for roadbuilding to help mitigate wildfire damage and promote timber harvests that dwindled under increasing forest protections.
“This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands,” the agency said in announcing the change. “Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.”
But Colorado environmental advocates who had fought for roadless areas and defended the rule against past threats said the change threatens to promote “large-scale mining, oil and gas drilling” as well as widespread logging in areas that should stay set aside for wilderness and backcountry experiences. The Forest Service oversees nearly 15 million acres of Colorado forest and grasslands.
The Center for Western Priorities’ policy director Rachael Hamby was in the room at the Western Governors Association when Rollins made the announcement.
“An attack on the Roadless Rule is an attack on clean water, wildlife, Western communities, and recreation on public lands,” Hamby said afterward. “For over two decades, the Roadless Rule has protected intact ecosystems from irresponsible timber companies who want to clear cut the mature and old-growth forests that provide clean drinking water and recreation opportunities to Westerners, as well as healthy habitat for wildlife.
“It’s ridiculous for Secretary Rollins to spin this as a move that will reduce wildfire risk or improve recreation. Commercial logging exacerbates climate change, increasing the intensity of wildfires.”
Colorado groups were also scrambling to understand how far the reversal goes for areas that are protected by other rules and regulations.
“It’s not clear from Secretary Rollins’ announcement whether it also applies to the separate, Colorado-specific roadless rule,” said Mark Pearson, executive director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “The roadless rule specific to Colorado was adopted in 2012 after a multiyear public involvement process, and the consensus of a 12-member bipartisan advisory committee appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders from both Democrats and Republicans. The Trump administration’s attempted rescission is the exact opposite — a top-down dictate from politicians in Washington, D.C., that made no effort whatsoever to solicit feedback from those of us in the West most concerned about and affected by roadless area protection.”
In rallying members in the past to defend the Roadless Rule, the Outdoor Alliance said, “Roadless forests provide clean air, clean water and protect the climate. Recreation is a major part of the economy in the West, and unnecessary development on backcountry forests could affect recreation access and local economies.”
Of that 59 million acres of National Forest Service land across the U.S., the alliance says, “right now, about 50% of our National Forest land is open to drilling, logging and mining; and 18% is protected as designated Wilderness. The remaining 30% of forests are known as Roadless Areas.” Advocacy groups and various states’ Congressional delegations often nominate new swaths of roadless areas for permanent designation as wilderness.
The Sierra Club noted Monday that more than 1.6 million public comments came in favor of roadless wilderness protections before President Bill Clinton approved the rule in 2001.
The rule “has been crucial in preserving the integrity of intact wild landscapes across the West,” the club said, in a statement following Rollins’ announcement.
“Once again, the Trump administration is ignoring the voices of millions of Americans to pursue a corporate giveaway for his billionaire buddies. Stripping our national forests of roadless rule protections will put close to 60 million acres of wildlands across the country on the chopping block,” Sierra Club forest campaign manager Alex Craven said in the statement.
The USDA countered that the rule left the majority of some states’ land closed off to important economic development, in addition to needed wildfire protections. The agency said 60% of Forest Service land in Utah is shut off from roads under the rule.
“Of the 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas covered under the 2001 Roadless Rule, 28 million acres are in areas at high or very high risk of wildfire. Rescinding this rule will allow this land to be managed at the local forest level, with more flexibility to take swift action to reduce wildfire risk and help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure,” the agency said.
Coloradans need to know what they might be forced to give up when public lands have fewer protections, Pearson said. “Most of the municipal watersheds in southwest Colorado are protected by the roadless rule, along with some of our most beloved backcountry recreation areas,” he said. “Here in the San Juan Mountains, that includes Ice Lake Basin, an area for which Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper have attempted to gain permanent legislation protection under the CORE Act precisely because of the whims of administrations. The Colorado Roadless Rule protects other places like Hope Lake near Telluride, and long stretches of the Continental Divide Trail, including that between Lake City and Silverton.”
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