CalWild guided two aerial tours in early February to view Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) on the San Bernardino National Forest. Organized in conjunction with Ecoflight, the purpose of the aerial tours was to educate members of the local business community and representatives of local California Legislators about the value of roadless areas and the imminent threat of the Trump Administration to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
City Creek Roadless Area, featured as the main image in this post, provides water that flows downstream and replenishes the groundwater supply for the San Bernardino urban area (background). The streams in the area support endangered arroyo toad and mountain yellow-legged frog. Roadless Rule protection allows for necessary wildfire prevention treatments, such as the fire breaks seen in the lower left of the picture.
Established by the Clinton Administration in 2001, the Roadless Rule currently prohibits road building and commercial logging on 58.5 million acres of roadless lands on our National Forests. The rule currently protects 173,000 acres of roadless areas or about 26% of the San Bernardino National Forest. The Trump Administration proposes to repeal the rule, which will open these sensitive areas to road building, commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling.
The aerial tours with EcoFlight provided the participants with a birds-eye view of the Deep Creek, City Creek, Crystal Creek, and Sugarloaf roadless areas on the San Bernardino Forest. These roadless areas are critical sources of clean water that ultimately flow into the Santa Ana and Mojave Rivers, replenishing groundwater supplies that millions of people depend on. In addition, these roadless areas provide outstanding opportunities for outdoor recreation and support local recreation-based tourism. They are also rich in Native American cultural values and provide critical refuges for a wide variety of at-risk fish, amphibians, and wildlife.
The Roadless Rule does not hamper fire-fighting and it even allows the establishment and maintenance of fire breaks and other fuels treatments in roadless areas. Existing legal motorized trails in roadless areas are also unaffected by the Rule. Initial public response when the proposed repeal was announced last year overwhelmingly supported the continued protection of roadless areas. Nevertheless, the Trump Administration is expected to release for brief public review its draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Roadless Rule repeal this March.
Sugarloaf Roadless Area – Sugarloaf Mountain (background) is a popular recreation destination for visitors to and residents of Big Bear Lake. Water from this roadless area flows into the Santa Ana River, (foreground) which in turn replenishes the groundwater supply of the San Bernardino urban area.
