As a conservationist, multi-state, multi-generational landowner, Master Naturalist, and former Georgia Native Plant Society President, I present my deep concerns on the consideration of removing the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that has stood firm across multiple circuits and implemented by both parties. Protecting the biodiversity of these pristine areas is paramount to me as a voting citizen whose parents taught me to love, respect, understand, respect science, education and cherish our land and wild places.
Invasive species cost billions each year in the US alone. They are costing us personally, $1,000's of dollars each year and weeks and months of work to tackle species such as Johnson Grass introduced by a tenant farmer who mowed the sides of highways to collect free hay. The native plants on our farm, such as Christmas Fern, Red Chanterelles, Little Blue Stem, Solidago, Asters, Pawpaw, Milkweeds, Sparkleberry, Painted Buckeye, Shagbark Hickory, Broomsedge, are diminishing rapidly due to the introduction of invasive seeds transferred by tires and invasive feral swine. Invasives cost money and time to tackle reducing biodiversity by at least 25%. Feral swine are currently being illegally transported across the state for hunting clubs thereby increasing the problem. The more humans we introduce to the picture, the more equipment, the faster we will lose what has been protected.
The science and studies exist proving that maintaining roadless wild spaces is the safest and most effective way to preserve biodiversity which is in collapse right now and far more important to me than climate change. Biodiversity protects our food systems, our natural balance in the food web which without, we will loose the rich diversity of insects, flora and fauna across all of our natural communities. The DOT is a perfect example of what happens to roadways with perpetual mowing and clearing of trees and understory by workers who are untrained in field biology and the native plant systems that exist on the roads. Their mowing equipment super-spreads invasive seeds that spread like wildfire to private lands and farms. It increases flash flooding across the hills and valleys which further spreads invasive species reducing water quality.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open our parks to incalculable exposure of epic proportions that given how short staffed, underfunded and behind the proposal’s multi-billion-dollar road-maintenance backlog currently is, illustrates how unrealistic proposal is. For example Bee Cove, Sumter National Forest is a good example of how important temperature is to water quality. With canopy loss, particularly on slopes, you will see increases in soil erosion, stream sedimentation resulting in reduced aquatic life. The USFS assessment explicitly attributes the current Class 1 watershed condition rating to the absence of roads and resulting low sedimentation rates; road construction would reverse this condition and degrade the spawning substrate and water clarity that brook trout require for reproduction. The direct and indirect effects of that activity are precisely what makes a specific comment about this area necessary.
Allowing roads to be built for logging or mining equipment will have numerous devastating impacts:
1- Roads are the primary cause of the introduction of invasive, non-native species that can overwhelm native wildlife.
2- Roads increase sedimentation that seriously pollutes water quality, affecting not only fish, amphibian, and reptile life in the streams but ultimately groundwater that can impact the natural aquifers from which humans draw their drinking water.
3- Road stream crossings create a barrier to fish movement in national forests and restrict spawning and propagation of trout and other aquatic life.
4- Road construction introduces potential landslides and erosion that destroy established forest roots and slope stability resulting in potential floods and stream sedimentation.
5- The introduction of livestock can cause overgrazing which adversely affects species dependent on grasses for feeding or ground nesting, increasing runoff and soil compaction.
6- Roads can interrupt fires necessary for fire-dependent ecosystems while increasing the possibility of uncontrolled wildfires due to campsites or cigarettes thrown from vehicles.
Road construction in roadless areas is the primary cause of ecosystem destruction and endangering wildlife. For these reasons, in addition to the aesthetic loss of our national treasures, we vehemently oppose rescinding the Roadless Rule. Facilitating energy, mineral, and timber production “to the maximum possible extent” on public lands will cost our nation far more in ecological desecration than will be compensated by short-term revenues they generate.
I urge you to support H.R. 3930, the Roadless Area Conservation Act, to provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within our treasured National Forest System.