Deadline is tomorrow: Take Action to Save Our Roadless Forests Today

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Save Our Roadless Forests

Action, Roads • By Melissa • September 11, 2025
Do Not Rescind the Roadless Rule

The Forest Service released plans to strip 45 million acres of wild forests of their protections. They’re proposing to repeal the Roadless Rule, which sets aside wild areas in our national forests from road-building and industrial logging for wildlife, watershed conservation, and outdoor recreation.
The Roadless Rule was enacted in 2001. In the decades since these forests have enjoyed roadless protections, their trees have matured, safe from the clutches of chainsaws or the crush of bulldozers. Snakes and other wild animals can move freely; no risk of automobile collisions here.
TAKE ACTION FOR SNAKES


What’s at Stake

The proposed rollback of the 2001 Roadless Rule jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system. These forests have only remained intact because of the Forest Service’s nearly 25-year-old commitment not to build roads in these areas for harmful activities like major logging operations or oil-and-gas drilling.
Roads are Devastating for Snakes

Roads disrupt movement, migration, and act as barriers to gene flow. Road mortality is one of the greatest threats to snakes in the US, killing millions every year.



More Roads Means More Wildfires

Although proponents of rolling back the Roadless Rule have suggested that this is somehow being done in response to wildfire, the reality is that this “solution” will only lead to more wildfires. New research from The Wilderness Society, now in peer review, shows that from 1992-2024, wildfires were four times as likely to start in areas with roads than in roadless forest tracts. Another study showed that more than 90 percent of all wildfires nationwide occurred within half a mile of a road.
Vital Habitat for Imperiled Species

The lands in question include lower-elevation forests, wetlands, canyons and other undeveloped lands that are critical to our nation’s ecological health. Because they are not fragmented by roads, these Roadless Areas provide habitat for many imperiled species such as California Condors, New Mexican Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake, and Wolves.
Rollback Paves the Way for Logging

The real reason a rollback of the Roadless Rule is being proposed is to re-open these forests to logging and other industrial development. This proposal follows on the heels of other administrative actions that have called for a dramatic increase in logging and oil and gas drilling on federal lands. An increase in these industrial activities would worsen climate change, destroy recreation areas, put the lands at greater risk of wildfire, destroy wildlife habitat, and threaten drinking water sources. Logging most often targets bigger, older trees, which are natural carbon sinks that store carbon dioxide and provide shade for cooler temperatures – yet all of these benefits are lost if trees are removed. Further, logging and logging roads can have devastating impacts to drinking water quality and fish habitat. The cost will fall to communities, who will face threats to their supply of clean water and will need to clean up polluted water before sending it to households and local economies – and will suffer from the damage to commercial and recreational fisheries.
Vital for America’s Drinking Water

The US National Forests are the headwaters of our great rivers and the largest source of municipal water supply in the nation, serving over 60 million people in 3,400 communities in 33 states. Roads are a major cause of water pollution. Because it protects these headwaters, the 2001 Roadless Rule is vital for maintaining clean drinking water for communities across the country. Major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, and Atlanta receive a significant portion of their water supply from national forests.
Millions Support the Roadless Rule

The Roadless Rule is a highly popular policy that is often celebrated as one of America’s most successful conservation measures. Prior to its enactment, more than 600 public hearings were held nationwide, and 1.6 million Americans weighed in to call for protection of these forestlands. More recently, more than 45 members of the House and Senate have signed onto legislation that would codify the Roadless Rule so that in the future, it could not be rolled back without an act of Congress.


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Sorry about the picture- it's that of a vehicle about to run over a healthy adult snake on the road.