Suggested Points To Guide Your Roadless Rule Message to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollings by September 19th.
Personalize your message and consider emphasizing points below that we believe could be persuasive.
[I benefit from national forests in California preserved by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Roadless areas have had a huge impact on my life and California will not be the same without the Roadless Rule protections that preserve the heart of these forests. ]
While Roadless Areas only comprise 20% of California’s national forests, their benefits are varied and vast, including:
- Roadless Areas protect drinking water supplies and water sources for agriculture.
- Roadless areas supply 50% of California’s drinking water.
- Roadless Areas act as fire buffers for communities and land managers since roadless areas experience far fewer human-caused fire starts than do areas with roads
- Roadless Areas serve as recreation destinations for local communities and visitors alike, which benefits local economies
- Roadless Areas support the military in many areas of California by helping to maintain large, undeveloped areas of land to conduct training and operations and/or serve as a crucial buffer against urbanization and other forms of outside influences that inhibit capacity for training and testing activities.
Contrary to assertions by the USDA, the 2001 Roadless Rule does not do any of the following:
- The Roadless Rule does not impede national forest planning at the local level. Rather, the Roadless Rule is one of many overarching rules that guide local national forest staff.
- The Roadless Rule does not harm local economies. In fact, the Roadless Rule keeps drinking water clean for rural and urban communities alike here in California, thereby helping decrease cost on water. Water for agriculture and domestic use and public land related visitation and tourism benefit rural communities thanks in part to the lands covered by the Roadless Rule.
- The Roadless Rule does not impede fire suppression. To the contrary, the Forest Service is allowed to use all tools available for firefighting in roadless areas, including bulldozers and aircraft. Fire suppression of active wildfires in roadless areas in California’s national forests is not uncommon.
- The Roadless Rule does not impede fire risk reduction. Actually, California national forests such as the Los Padres National Forest and Tahoe National Forest conduct fuel management projects in roadless areas while adhering to the Roadless Rule. Existing roads on the boundaries of roadless areas provide adequate access for fire risk reduction.
The current proposal would allow new road construction and the logging of our largest trees in roadless areas, despite the increased fire risk and the fact that the U.S. Forest Service cannot currently afford to maintain its existing 47,000 miles of roads in California.
BACKGROUND:
The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule plays a critical role in California by protecting our drinking water supply, reducing human-caused wildfire risk, providing exceptional recreational opportunities and habitat for California’s plants and wildlife, including species at risk of extinction. Despite these benefits and more, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollings has directed the U.S. Forest Service to roll back this widely supported policy. The reasons cited by Secretary Rollings for eliminating the Roadless Area Conservation Rule are meritless (see below), yet the Forest Service is giving the public until only September 19 to comment on the proposal.
Generally speaking, the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibits new road construction (unless they are necessary for proper U.S. Forest Service management of the area or to allow private landowners access to their property) and the logging of the largest trees in “roadless areas.” Roadless areas are backcountry, undeveloped areas that are at the “heart” of California’s national forests. Even though they represent just 20% of the state’s 20 million national forest acres, they provide outsized benefits by:
- Providing clean water. The health of many of our most important river systems such as the American, Cosumnes, Eel, Kern, Kings, Klamath, Owens, Pit, Sacramento, San Diego, San Gabriel, San Joaquin, Smith, and Trinity Rivers originate in roadless areas and/or flow through them.
- Functioning as biological strongholds and refuges for many species, especially those that need minimally disturbed tracts of land for their habitat.
- Reducing fire risk. Despite misinformation to the contrary, roadless areas have disproportionately fewer wildfires than areas with roads; in fact, at least 75% of all fires in our state’s national forests have ignited in areas with roads.
There are almost 4 million acres of roadless areas in California, an area half the size of the State of New Jersey. Removing the Roadless Rule will only harm our ability to recreate in, benefit from and enjoy our national forests in California.
Photo credit: A. Sanchez
