The Roadless Rule – a statute enacted in 2001 that bars the creation of roads and commodity logging in 58 million acres of national forests – has been on the chopping block for nearly a year, when Department of Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins officially announced her agency’s desire to rescind the rule.
While that rule rescission is still pending, Utah senator Mike Lee, a Republican, is planning to introduce legislation that would end the Roadless Rule, according to Politico. They obtained a copy of the proposed legislation from an inside source, which they did not name. Similar sources have provided copies to other news outlets, confirming the details.
Colorado and Idaho, which have state-level versions of Roadless Rule protections for forests in their borders, would be exempt from Lee’s bill. All told, it’s estimated that 45 million acres of forest across 37 states could be stripped of their roadless protections, if Lee’s bill passes.
Lee plans to attach his bill as an amendment to Senator John Barasso’s Wildfire Prevention Act. Lee hasn’t commented on the legislation or the leak, and the bill doesn’t appear on today’s agenda of the Natural Resources Committee, which Lee chairs.
I encourage people to dig into this subject rather than react to all the surface chatter about it.
While I understand the desire to try to preserve nature – I’ve been involved in conservation and habitat for over 50 years – I also understand that logging can be beneficial in many cases, and that other Americans with passions other than ours would like access to this land.
I’m not a fan of ATVs and the like in any way…but I’m also unwilling to tell my fellow Americans that they can’t pursue their passions on land we all own and should, IMO, share.
I also can’t stand Mike Lee, and I believe him to be in this for his own benefit.
Digging into this so we understand it is the best way to move forward.