High Siskiyous National Forest, Oregon               © Richard Wilheim

Unspoiled by human development, designated roadless areas make up much of the last wild and pristine forestland in the United States. Roadless areas are havens for fish and wildlife, and provide habitat for more than 280 threatened, endangered, or sensitive species. Roadless areas also supply clean drinking water for millions of Americans.

In our national forests there are already more than 386,000 miles of roads, many leading nowhere, that fragment wildlife habitat and open the land to clear-cut logging as well as an increased threat of wildfires. Thousands of miles of these roads have fallen into disrepair and are collapsing into many key watersheds, causing significant water pollution problems for people and wildlife.

And not only do roads increase erosion and disrupt wildlife habitat, they also open up remote areas to further development. Once a road has been cut through an untouched area, the federal agencies that manage that land cannot consider recommending that area for wilderness designation by Congress. One of the most effective ways to protect a pristine forest -- and its wildlife -- is to keep the roads out.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule: Repealed

Kalmiopsis Wildlands, Oregon   © Trygyve Steen

The Forest Service issued the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect 58.5 million acres of our nation’s most pristine forestland. The rule was issued after a three-year administrative process that involved more than 600 public meetings and drew a record-breaking 1.6 million public comments. Over 95 percent of these comments came from people who supported the proposed ban on new road building in our largest tracts of undeveloped forest. By the end of 2004, the Forest Service had received some 4 million public comments in support of the 2001 rule and its protections.

Despite this overwhelming public support, the 2001 Roadless Rule was formally repealed by the Bush administration in May of 2005, and replaced with a weak and burdensome state petitioning process. Rather than safeguard the last remaining unprotected wild forests in our national forest system, the Bush administration’s new policy throws out the protections brought to 58.5 million acres of pristine forests by the Roadless Rule.

Under the new Bush policy, if governors wish to have roadless areas within their states protected, they must complete a cumbersome petition process and file their recommendations with political appointees at the Department of Agriculture. The petitions are not binding, and the political appointees are free to accept, modify, or reject them. However, under the 2005 rule, a governor can just as easily ask that roadless areas currently awarded some protections under the existing management plan for an individual national forest (not those provided by the 2001 rule) be opened to road building, logging, or other development. Elected officials and citizens outside those states will have no say at all about the fate of these shared national treasures. Earthjustice’s forest specialist Marty Hayden has characterized the change as “taking the national out of the national forests.”

Duncan Canyon, Tahoe National Forest     © Jim Rose

On October 6, 2005, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of 20 conservation groups in federal district court in San Francisco seeking to invalidate the Bush administration decision to target the last, large untouched tracts of our national forests for development. The suit asks the court to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Rule that protected these areas.

By signing this petition you are supporting our work and helping us show the Bush administration that Americans still care about protecting our pristine roadless areas as much as we ever have.

If you wish to submit your own letter, please send it to:

Michael Johanns, Secretary
US Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20250