I am writing from my home in Southwest Colorado, where National Forests, and their Roadless areas, are a crucial part of our daily lives and our economy.
I strongly oppose the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This Rule has proved successful for over 20 years. The areas protected by the Roadless Rule include many of American’s Crown Jewels. It protects wildlife habitat, clean water, clean air, and recreational opportunities for hunters, fisherman, hikers, and others.
The proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule would threaten these benefits. This rollback would harm the San Juan National Forest near where I live. Much of the local economy relies on pristine forests for hunters, hikers, horsemen, and fisherman to recreate. Our drinking water is dependent on our remote forests.
The proposed repeal is being justified as a wildfire-prevention measure. This ignores extensive research demonstrating that additional road construction in our forests would increase wildfires. Evidence shows than 80% of wildfires occur within 800 yards of roads.
I submit that with the numerous cuts to the National Forest Service’s budget over the last few years, any money spent building additional roads would detract from maintenance of existing roads and trails. Locally we have several existing Forest Service roads which were washed out by flooding a year ago. Resources have not yet been made available to restore these roads, which are important for access to private property, as well as for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and riding.
If the justification for more roads is to increase timber production, this would likely result in cutting down bigger, old trees, which are the most resilient to wildfire. If old-growth forests are logged, it can take hundreds of years to regrow. Because older trees store more carbon than younger trees, it is critically important that we keep these forests standing right now while they have the greatest ability to mitigate climate change. Further, since many of the areas affected by the Roadless Rule are remote and rugged, logging them would be an expensive, uneconomical prospect. Far better to dedicate resources to thinning National Forests near their edges, to mitigate potential fire hazards for local towns and residents.
National Forests belong to the American People and are not simply a crop to be used to enrich industry executives. They nurture fish, birds, wildlife, and people. They filter our drinking water. The Forests provide recreational opportunities which support our economy and enrich our lives. In the era of Climate Change, long term drought and drying, once these Forests are logged, they may NEVER regrow. Carving up these forests with roads and logging means we lose those benefits.
Our National Forests belong to all Americans, not the timber industry. The Roadless Rule protects an outstanding environment for backcountry recreation. They nurture numerous fish, bird, and wildlife species. They provide subsistence to many local hunters and Native Americans. They protect clean, clear drinking water for our local community. Elimination of the Roadless Rule would threaten all of those benefits. I urge you to maintain the current Roadless Rule to protect our forests.
Sincerely,
Andy Butler
Pagosa Springs, CO