The Heart of Wild Oregon is Under Attack

Since 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has ensured protection for big wild places across the U.S., including some of Oregon’s most iconic landscapes. Now, this landmark policy is being targeted by the Trump administration for repeal.

Years in the making, the Roadless Rule had one of the most extensive public involvement processes in federal rulemaking history and garnered overwhelming public support for its protections for pristine national forest lands from logging and road-building.

Nationwide, nearly 60 million acres of public land were protected by the Roadless Rule, from the rainforests of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to the Ocala National Forest in Florida. These “roadless areas” are some of the last intact landscapes in America, providing clean water, critical wildlife habitat, and world-class recreation opportunities.

Now, the Trump administration is working to repeal these important protections, potentially opening up millions of acres to road building, logging and development. Beyond removing protections for more than 45 million acres of our country’s last undeveloped wild lands, this attack is part of this administration’s wider war on nature and public lands.

As Trump works to degrade foundational environmental laws and policies, and mandates more logging, mining and development in our National Forests, areas currently protected by the Roadless Rule will be threatened as well.

What places are we talking about? Imagine landscapes where nature mostly thrives on its own terms. Places where old-growth trees still tower above the land, where wildlife find vast areas of pristine, high-quality habitat. Places where cold, clean streams still run free and provide a home for trout and salmon. Places that offer solitude and support lifeways core to our humanity.

The two million acres of forest lands protected by the Roadless Rule in Oregon are truly some of the most spectacular wild places in the state, from the flower-studded meadows of Iron Mountain in the Willamette National Forest, to the dramatic canyons and cultural homelands of the Nez Perce Tribe in Joseph Canyon.

Other iconic areas include Lookout Mountain in the Ochocos, where diverse forests and meadows form the headwaters of critical streams; Rough & Ready Creek, a unique botanical wonderland threatened by mining in southwest Oregon; and Larch Mountain, a lush old-growth haven just minutes from Portland. These and dozens of other roadless areas across Oregon safeguard clean water, biodiversity, cultural values and recreation opportunities that are impossible to replace once lost.

These kinds of wild, roadless lands became increasingly rare over the past century in Oregon, as logging roads and clearcuts fragmented our national forests. What remains is largely thanks to the protections afforded under the Roadless Rule that limit commercial logging and building new roads.

With 220,000 miles of existing roads crisscrossing Oregon’s landscapes, and so much of our National Forests already open to mining, logging and other development, we owe it to future generations to save what’s left.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. Logging and mining industries, with the support of friendly administrations under George W. Bush and Trump, have worked to attack roadless area protections since the moment the Roadless Rule was put in place. Pushback from the public and lawsuits from environmental advocates have maintained the Rule until now. With this latest effort to open up our last, best, wild places we need to raise our voices yet again.

You can help defend the heart of Oregon’s wild lands by speaking up in defense of critical protections for the wild lands you love.

Chandra LeGue is senior conservation advocate for Oregon Wild.Comments are due on the proposed Roadless Rule repeal by Sept. 19. Perhaps more importantly, urge your Congressional representatives to oppose the Roadless Rule repeal, and to pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act in Congress to ensure our wildlands are protected. Visit OregonWild.org/protect-oregons-wild-heart/ to take action.

A Note From the Publisher

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