"Divide and Conquer."
This is the strategy of a war, not of stewardship.
My name is Jacob, a recent graduate with a bachelor's degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. I believe that the roadless rule is an essential statute to preserve the limited wildlands once abundantly present across our country; further, the proposal of repealing this act is as misguided as it is
There are few areas of the USA which have seen little development. Repealing the Roadless Rule would ensure fragmentation and disturbance in these areas, and would mark the starting point for a slow deterioration of the final American frontiers into barren commercial lots.
The economic incentive for opening these areas to commercial logging, drilling, mining, and construction is undeniable. But what do we lose in the process?
Shawnee National Forest is the largest public land in Illinois, and contains 11,000 acres of land affected by the proposed change. The Shawnee is a bastion of nature in an otherwise altered state. I, and my friends, enjoy frequenting Jackson Falls, Bell Smith Springs, and Garden of the Gods; all of which may suffer under this change. The threats this would reintroduce endanger not only these sites, but any and all adjacent land to which fire, invasive species, or man may travel.
Before this proposal, the inherent environmental significance, ecological uniquity, and cultural value of the Shawnee was already being fought for. Attempts have been made to create the into as a National Park, under which designation current logging practices would be forced to cease, thereby preserving the character of this ecologically rich region. While this is unlikely to become a reality, that is no reason to take two steps back with an influx of commercial development.
I was born, raised, and have spent all of my life in Illinois. Those with an upbringing similar to mine are no stranger to ecosystem fragmentation and decay; in a span of about 150 years, Illinois lost 80% of our natural forest ecosystems, 90% of our natural wetland ecosystems, and over 99% of our natural prairie ecosystems (INHS).
The Roadless Rule is a wall holding together some of the few intact ecosystems in my state. Without it, these are vulnerable to a systematic breakdown: splinter roads, invasive species, and anthropogenic fires will whittle away at the little we have left.
I hope that I will never see an Illinois without the Shawnee, nor a New Mexico without Gila, nor Kentucky without Daniel Boone; revoking the Roadless Rule inches us closer and closer to the precipice such a reality.