6 Reasons to Keep the 'Roadless Rule' in Place

The U.S. Forest Service recently opened a public comment period around a reckless and unnecessary proposal to eliminate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, commonly known as the “Roadless Rule,” which could impact more than 45 million acres of national forestland.

This rule ended industrial-scale logging and roadbuilding on the country’s remaining undeveloped national forests lands. The rule was finalized in 2001 after years of tremendous public outreach and overwhelming support. Whereas public lands designated as “wilderness” receive higher forms of permanent protection under the law, lands categorized or inventoried as “roadless” are protected landscapes that still allow some development and a broad array of recreation activities.

An NPCA analysis found that of the approximately 45 million acres of designated roadless areas in national forests, nearly 30% (17.5 million acres) are within 30 miles of national park lands.

Roadless areas in America’s national forests support wildlife and plant biodiversity, viewsheds and soundscapes, and climate resilience, as well as air and water quality.

Everyone who cares for America’s national parks and public lands should be concerned about attempts to dismantle the rule.

Here are six key reasons we believe the “Roadless Rule” should stay in place, as well as select park sites that would be affected if the federal government rescinds it.

Recreation: Appalachian National Scenic Trail

The more than 2,000-mile Appalachian National Scenic Trail crosses through several roadless areas and supports recreation opportunities from Georgia to Maine. Managed by the National Park Service, the “AT” preserves a wide spectrum of ecosystems and outdoor experiences, including within its roadless areas in New England and the Southeastern United States.

In the Southern Appalachian region, more than 375,000 acres of roadless areas contain approximately 600 miles of hiking and biking trails and over 60 climbing areas with more than 200 designated routes. The Bald Mountain roadless area near Asheville, North Carolina, is one of the largest intact forest tracts in the eastern United States and an important hunting area, as well as a wildlife-viewing area for black bears, upland game birds and white-tailed deer. The 8,600-acre South Mills roadless area, also in North Carolina, includes a premiere stretch of river for trout fishing.

Wildlife: Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier National Parks

Wildlife ranging from grizzly bears and elk to salmon and songbirds rely on connected and roadless landscapes and waterways for habitat, food and shelter as they travel within and outside of park boundaries. Roadless areas within the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems provide habitat connectivity between parks and forest lands and are critical to the long-term success of grizzly bears and other wildlife populations. Rescinding the “Roadless Rule” would result in roadless areas along the Wyoming-Idaho border being segregated, compromising wildlife connectivity.

Healthy Watersheds: Gulf Islands National Seashore

When you think of roadless forest areas, you may not think of coastlines, but Florida’s Gulf Islands National Seashore benefits greatly from nearby roadless areas to the east. Limiting road construction and logging in these neighboring roadless areas results in less erosion and sedimentation and contaminants flowing into waterways, which support aquatic wildlife and fishery and recreation economies. Gulf Islands National Seashore is connected to nearby roadless areas through a mosaic of protected landscapes, including the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Minimizing roads protects water quality, aquatic habitat and downstream resilience.

Park Viewsheds and Soundscapes: Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah offers outstanding vistas across desert hoodoos into roadless conservation areas that form a chain of connected landscapes from the park to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Maintaining these roadless areas adjacent to the park support not only viewsheds within and beyond the park that draw visitors, but the quiet desert soundscape they enjoy while they’re there.

Park Landscape Protection: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Roadless areas provide immense connections across a vast area of southeastern Alaska, from Kenai Fjords National Park to Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay national parks and preserves. Glacier Bay remains America’s national park with the greatest concentration of roadless areas within 30 miles of its boundaries: more than 785,000 acres.

The roadless areas within this region support healthy old-growth forests that stretch to the edge of the Gulf of Alaska, supporting the landscape as well as healthy fish populations and clean watersheds.

Preventing Reckless/Harmful Extraction: Yosemite, Sequoia and Other Parks

More than 400,000 acres of roadless areas surround both Yosemite and Sequoia national parks, protecting the Sierra Nevada ecosystem at large, along with the park’s namesake towering sequoia forests. Rescinding the “Roadless Rule” is the latest attempt to weaken or sell off America’s public lands by opening protected, remote areas to logging, roadbuilding and energy development. Rescinding the rule would literally pave a pathway toward increased oil and gas leasing, mining and other harmful development on public lands.

Congress recently made wholesale changes to expedite oil and gas leasing and development and set timber sale targets to levels not seen in over 30 years, making the intent to rescind the Roadless Rule abundantly clear.

By the numbers

The 10 park sites identified by NPCA as having the largest acreage of lands protected by the Roadless Rule, within 30 miles of the park site:

• Glacier Bay National Park (785,072 acres of nearby roadless forests)

• Appalachian National Scenic Trail (775,128 acres)

• Yellowstone National Park (710,541 acres)

• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (583,304 acres)

• Grand Teton National Park (519,168 acres)

• Glacier National Park (468,693 acres)

• Kings Canyon National Park (431450 acres)

• North Cascades National Park (427,117 acres)

• Yosemite National Park (412,132 acres)

• Capitol Reef National Park (392,128 acres)