Thanks to you and people like you, nearly half a million people weighed in during the comment period that ended on Sept 19.
What happens now?
The Forest Service will now analyze all of the comments and consult with various parties to develop their proposal (called the “Draft Environmental Impact Statement”).
Our Governors and Members of Congress need to hear from us — they may have opportunities to weigh in over the next few months. You can find your Member of Congress on congress.gov.
Background about the Roadless Rule
Find the roadless area nearest you using this map (credit: Outdoor Alliance)
On June 23, Secretary Rollins announced that the USDA is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule.
On Aug 29, the USDA published a notice of intent, kicking off a 21 -day comment period which ends September 19. The scoping period sets the stage for the rulemaking. This is our opportunity to inform the USDA about which issues we think are important and therefore, which issues they should address when developing the EIS.
The proposed rollback of the 2001 Roadless Rule jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system. These forests have only remained intact because of the Forest Service’s nearly 25-year-old commitment not to build roads in these areas for harmful activities like major logging operations or oil-and-gas drilling.
Since 2001, protected roadless areas have offered abundant outdoor recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, camping or other activities. Every year, millions of people take advantage of the free (or extremely affordable) access to these public lands. According to maps from Outdoor Alliance’s GIS Lab, roadless areas protect 11,337 climbing routes and boulder problems, more than 1,000 whitewater paddling runs, 43,826 miles of trail, and 20,298 mountain biking trails. Large sections of the Continental Divide, Pacific Crest, and Appalachian National Trails traverse protected roadless areas.