This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
The U.S. The Department of Agriculture is about to undo the 2001 Roadless Rule that has protected 59 million acres of national forests from being developed or logged for decades. Virginia boasts the most inventoried roadless areas in the southeast, 394,000 acres, which would be opened up for development once the rule is axed. The state has over 1.6 million acres of forest in the National Forest System.
The USDA reports that 30% of the National Forest System lands are restricted from road development through this rule. The Trump Administration has framed this as an impediment to the land being managed for fire risk and said it is hindering economic development in rural America.
“Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins in a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association. “This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests. It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”
The rule was created as a way to maintain some of the least-developed parts of the nation to protect wildlife, clean water, recreation and old-growth forests. The rule has been contested in the courts many times as states sought to utilize the lands but has been upheld in most cases.
As for the agency’s concerns over wildfires, the rule already has exemptions to manage fuel reduction through thinning of trees, prescribed burns, creating fuel breaks and removing brush. However, logging groups feel it’s not sufficient to address the dangers the forests face from wildfires.
“With those limited exceptions it hasn’t been enough to effectively manage the forest and reduce wildfire hazards and the disease infestation of bugs,” said Scott Dane, Executive Director of the American Loggers Council.
Dane said that limiting access to these lands has, in a way, contributed to shutting down logging across the country with the collapse of the mill infrastructure. From the logging perspective, he said the Roadless Rule was an anti-logging industry policy and stepped away from proper management of the national forests.
“Look at the catastrophic wildfires that we’ve had, and the U.S. Forest Service has come out with a wildfire crisis plan, because it is a crisis. The only way you can reduce the wildfire threats is to reduce the fuel loads, and the fuel loads are excessive right now,” Dane said. “The U.S. Forest Service needs to get back to managing the national forest like they used to do. And this rule, in and of itself, is not the sole reason that the health of the National Forest has declined over the last 25-30 years, but it’s one of the reasons.”
Environmental groups were quick to denounce the move by the federal government to open forestlands. The Southern Environmental Law Center said the rule was especially important for the southeast where land has been fragmented by roadbuilding and mining.
“They are the places that you’re gonna find old-growth forests. Virginia is lucky to have a lot of old-growth forest where you can find it in these roadless areas,” said Sam Evans, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Virginia also is lucky to have a wealth of clean streams and rivers. Five-hundred and forty miles of rivers in Virginia alone are protected primarily by the roadless rule.”
Even with the roadless rule’s future in question, the protected lands won’t be opened to free-for-all development. Formal rulemaking to undo the rule will be needed and it is likely to be challenged in court, as past changes were during the Bush Administration.
“The Forest Service is going to have to explain why those things aren’t important enough to protect anymore. It is hard for me to see how they could do that credibly,” Evans said.
Another hurdle: even if the rule is rescinded, logging projects would still need to go through the Forest Service’s application process, which is subject to review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
But logging is not the only industry that could expand if the rule is undone. Oil and gas, hydropower, and mining could utilize the protected lands. Evans said when the rule originally was proposed in January 2001, most supporters said they wanted these protections in place for the wilderness portions of the country. He suggests it will be difficult for the Forest Service to convince the public the land should be allowed to be developed.
“An unprecedented number of people showed up to say that they wanted these protections, and that has continued to be true across the board irrespective of political affiliation, whether you live in the city, or you are in a rural area,” Evans said. “People really care about protecting the integrity of these lands and don’t want to see them converted into timber production.”
