Southern hunters and anglers depend on roadless areas

It’s a crisp August morning, a day that feels more like fall instead of late summer, as Heath Cartee wades into the South Mills River outside of Brevard, North Carolina.  

“It’s mostly brown and rainbow trout in the South Mills. Some of the creeks feeding into it have brook trout,” Cartee explained. 

The fishing spot isn’t easy to get to — it required a miles-long mountain bike ride and a handful of knee-deep stream crossings. But Cartee, who owns Pisgah Outdoors, says the peaceful setting and plentiful fish makes the trek worth it.  

“When it’s tough to get to water, I enjoy it more,” Cartee explained. “You don’t hear any cars out here. There aren’t the sounds of machinery. We’ve only seen two people today, and they were up by the trailhead.”   

The spot is deep inside the South Mills Roadless Area, a part of the Pisgah National Forest that is protected by the roadless rule — a policy has safeguarded some of the South’s wildest forests by preventing the Forest Service from building unnecessary roads through them or opening them up to logging and mining projects. The rule is extremely popular, especially among backcountry hunters and anglers.  

But now the Forest Service is recklessly proposing to get rid of the roadless rule, putting places like the South Mills Roadless Area — and its renowned trout streams — at risk.  

“Without roadless areas, there’s no anglers. Plain and simple,” Cartee said.

An angler’s paradise 

The roadless rule was enacted 25 years ago in response to the realization that we were quickly losing our backcountry spaces inch by inch and mile by mile as the Forest Service’s road system — and the resulting logging projects — spread across our public lands.

The rule promises that our least-developed public lands can be enjoyed by the public without the threat of destructive projects. Currently there are more than 600,000 acres of roadless areas in the South, with roadless areas in every state in SELC’s footprint, and these places boast iconic hiking and mountain biking trails, drinking water sources, and old-growth forests.  

I see a positive impact when people come out here. I see people change.

Heath Cartee, Pisgah Outdoors

Notably, the lack of roads and development also make these places world-class destinations for hunters and anglers. Some of the best trout fishing streams in the region are in southern Appalachian roadless areas, and they attract people from all over who are in search of unique backcountry experiences.  

When Cartee guides fishing trips in the South Mills Roadless areas, he says he can see a change in people after they spend some time there.  

“I see a positive impact when people come out here. I see people change,” he said.  

Roadless areas like the South Mills Roadless Area are also important refuges for brook trout, a popular sport fish that’s seen its numbers decline by more than 80 percent. 

“The history of logging back in the 1800s and 1900s really pushed brook trout to the brink,” Cartee said. “We really don’t want to see that happen again.”  

Roads put world-class fisheries at risk 

The Forest Service’s plan to get rid of the roadless rule would mean crisscrossing places like the South Mills Roadless Area with roads and bringing industrial development to these wild places, putting their world-class trout streams and popular hunting areas at risk.   

Road construction dumps huge amounts of dirt into clear mountain streams, and the culverts used to cross streams often make it impossible for fish to reach their habitats. Roads also make it easier for pollution to run off of the landscapes and flow into rivers and streams.  

When they fall into disrepair — which is often — roads pollute nearby streams, clogging them with dirt and sediment that hurts water quality and chokes out fish and other aquatic life. A 2015 survey of North Carolina’s Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests found that a shocking 40 percent of roads that cross streams were causing accelerated erosion or contributing visible sediment directly to the water.  

Nationwide, the Forest Service estimates that there are “at least” 20,000 problematic stream crossings —a number that is almost certainly an underestimation because the agency has failed to assess the majority of its roads. It would cost more than $1.2 billion to repair the Forest Services’ existing degraded roads, and that number would surely balloon if the roadless rule is revoked. 

Reckless logging threatens important streams 

Importantly, the Forest Service isn’t looking to building new roads in roadless areas to help folks get to their favorite fishing hole. In fact, less than 25 percent of the agency’s current road system is open to passenger cars. Instead, the roads would be built for logging trucks as companies look to cut down forests that were previously protected by the roadless rule. The Forest Service has said as much, writing in its notice of intent to repeal the roadless rule that the goal is to “take immediate action” to increase logging on public lands.  

Some of the South’s most special places are off the beaten path.

Sam Evans, National Forests and Parks Program Leader

Logging in roadless forests reduces critical shade along waterways, increasing stream temperatures. Rising stream temperatures can be deadly for fish and other aquatic life, including brook trout, which are especially at risk when the water warms.  

“Some of the South’s most special places are off the beaten path. But rescinding the roadless rule would allow the Forest Service to close off these areas for logging and other destructive projects that would scar these incredible places and hurt the wildlife that depend on them,” Sam Evans, leader of SELC’s National Forests and Parks Program, said. “Once they build roads and log these areas, they will never be the same.”  

Protecting the next generation of hunters and anglers 

After a while, Cartee swaps his rod and reel for his mountain bike and prepares to ride out of the South Mills Roadless Area, taking comfort in knowing that it will be just as wild the next time he visits as it is now.

But that changes if the Forest Service goes back on its promise to protect roadless areas and gets rid of the roadless rule.  

“Why would you want to mess with this? It makes no sense,” he said. “There’s no amount of value you can extract from this place that’s higher than the value it gives back to each and every person that this belongs to, which is each and every person that lives in this country.” 

One of Cartee’s biggest concerns is for the next generations of hunters and anglers. At a time when there are growing anxieties about fading interest in hunting and fishing, he worries that removing protections for popular backcountry destinations like the South Mills Roadless Area will do long-lasting harm. 

“We’re constantly talking about doing things for the children, every politician from here to the West Coast loves to say the thing they’re doing is for the children,” Cartee said. “But if you really want to do something for the children, preserve the opportunity for them to do these things in backcountry places like this.”  

You can help defend for some of our wildest public lands and ensure they can be enjoyed by future generations by telling the Forest Service to keep the roadless rule in place.