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I oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Leaving this rule in place is the best way to preserve the unique economic & ecological benefits of the resources in protected areas.
Since the Roadless Rule was issued in 2001, public support for the Roadless Rule remains strong; a Pew Charitable Trust survey in 2019 found that 75% of Americans support the rule, with agreement among rural & urban respondents & across the political spectrum. As reported in this rule’s docket, the consensus opinion of the Tribal governments consulted is similarly opposed to the rescission of the Roadless Rule. This rule has bipartisan support for good reason: the lands it protects benefit all Americans, even those who do not live in their immediate vicinity.
National Forests System lands are vital sources of clean drinking water & carbon sinks for Americans across the country, & rescinding the Roadless Rules puts those resources at risk. According to the Forest Services water fact sheet, some 180 million people depend on National Forests & Grasslands to capture & filter their drinking water. Over 68,000 communities source their water from Forest Service lands, including major cities that are not immediately near the forests, such as Los Angeles, Portland, & Denver. These cities lie in the areas affected by the Roadless Rule, but the drinking water that these national forests hold is in danger of contamination should the Roadless Rule be rescinded. Construction of new roads & infrastructure, introduction of logging, new mining operations, & other industrial disruptions opens the door to contamination of critical drinking water by fuel emissions & spills; chemical runoff; & increased sediments in rivers & streams due to soil erosion.
Additionally, forests that have been protected from development are critical carbon sinks that store carbon dioxide emissions & protect against climate change. Old-growth forests are particularly effective at storing CO2 in trees & soils. Alaska's Tongass National Forest—9 million acres of which is covered by the Roadless Rule—stores 8% of the total carbon stored in all U.S. forests, which is hundreds of millions of emissions. Logging even a portion of this forest poses massive risks for carbon emissions & worsened climate change: in 2016, proposals to log 300,000 acres of this forest was estimated to result in the emissions of 4 million vehicles on American roads added for a century (DellaSala, 2016). With 30 times as much land available for logging in that forest alone, the risks for more extreme temperatures & severe weather events skyrockets.
While this rescission has been publicized as an economic benefit, it poses real risks for economic loss. Much recreational activity in national forests is based on the opportunity for peace and quiet, isolation from industry and urban life, and self-reliance. However, as is noted in the impact statement, adding roads & industrial activity removes the opportunity for this form of recreation, resulting in more conflicts between people using these lands & an estimated $6.1 million loss of annual revenue from recreation. Additionally, the presence of undeveloped forests protects recreational & commercial fishing populations. Trees naturally filter sediments out of our water as it enters natural waterways, preventing these particles from clogging gills, suffocating aquatic eggs, & blocking the photosynthesis of native plants. This also reduces the likelihood of algae blooms, which, when they occur, kill plants, invertebrates, & shellfish at high rates. Without trees to filter this water, fish populations face suffocation & loss of food sources, threatening the populations that commercial fishers depend on & that attract recreational fishers.
Finally, I am especially concerned about the impact this rescission will have in my area. The Sam Houston National Forest neighbors my community, & 4,000 acres of the forest could be opened to commercial logging, mining, & drilling. This area is home to the red-cockaded woodpecker, a species that only recently after 5 decades of conservation efforts, was downlisted from endangered to threatened. Commercial logging will destroy parts of this bird's habitat, resulting in population loss & endangered status again, while new roads may enable the spread of invasive species like Chinese tallow. Roads fragment forests by dividing animal populations & causing a reduction in biodiversity by 13 or up to 75%. Losing animals in these forests means losing natural predators of disease-bearing insects & animals like ticks, increasing the risk of Lyme disease in my community. East Texas also frequently experiences flooding due to hurricanes or severe weather, & Sam Houston National Forest absorbs stormwater runoff, thereby decreasing flood risk in my community. The Roadless Rule is critical to keeping my community safe, as well as communities across the country, which is why we must maintain it.