The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed a proposal to rescind the entirety of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prohibits road construction and logging on nearly 45 million acres (18 million hectares) of national forest land. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins submitted the proposal on Tuesday, saying it will mitigate wildfire risk by returning authority to local forest managers, who “know the land best”. While the areas are referred to as “roadless”, there are thousands of miles of existing roads within the lands with federal, state, and county ownership.
About half of these lands are within 1 mile (1.6km) of a road, and 31 percent are within 0.5 miles (800 metres) of a road, according to the National Forest Service. The USDA clarified that it is not forcing timber cutting or road construction. But environmental groups say rescinding the conservation rule will open the door to developments that will increase the risk of wildfire.
Fires are four times more likely to start near roads than in roadless forests, according to research from The Wilderness Society. Plowing roads into their habitat will bring human-caused wildfires and disturbances that they don’t need and can’t afford.” The US is experiencing one of its worst wildfire years in the last decade, with 7.3 million acres (3 million hectares) burned in about 49,000 fires through August 17, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 95 percent of the affected areas would be in 10 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
In early August, the state of Washington fought a highly destructive wildfire that burned more than 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares) and forced approximately 65,000 people to evacuate. Last month, the Trump administration finalised rollbacks of two regulations affecting the Endangered Species Act. One change requires officials to weigh economic and national security considerations when determining whether an area should be designated as “critical habitat”.
The public will have until September 21 to comment on the proposed Roadless Rule.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
