DENVER — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule would remove longstanding protections for tens of millions of acres of largely intact National Forests, putting wildlife habitat, clean water, and outdoor recreation opportunities at risk. The repeal also subverts meaningful consultation and input from Tribes, putting provisions that protect important Indigenous sites and subsistence rights at risk.

“Roadless forests provide some of the nation’s most intact habitat, help maintain clean and reliable water supplies, and include places of deep cultural importance to Indigenous communities,” said David Dreher, senior manager for public lands policy at the National Wildlife Federation. “These landscapes also sustain hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation that contributes to local economies. The administration chose to divide what could have been bipartisan support to instead wholesale eliminate an important conservation safeguard. This was a missed opportunity to have cross jurisdictional consensus to improve the 2001 rule, protect habitat, and reduce wildfire risks.”

“It’s clear the processes required by the National Environmental Policy Act are being treated as merely boxes to check on the path to enacting an entirely political agenda to clear cut the last remaining in-tact old-growth forests in America,” said Maggie Rabb, Executive Director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. “The wanton destruction of these irreplaceable ecosystems isn’t supported by the science, the public, or any of the inputs meant to shape this Environmental Impact Statement. It’s not even financially justifiable, with the Forest Service losing more than $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars on Tongass timber sales over four decades. There is really no justification for opening up Roadless areas to logging, especially on the Tongass National Forest.”