Southern forests put at risk by move to rescind “Roadless Rule”

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Today, United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to roll back the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The “Roadless Rule,” adopted in 2001, culminated a decades-long process to better protect the least-developed portions of our national forests from harmful roadbuilding and development. These areas are vitally important for wildlife, clean water, recreation, and old-growth forests, but this announcement puts them on the chopping block.

“Today’s announcement from USDA Secretary Rollins shows that this administration is completely out of touch with what Americans value in our public lands,” Sam Evans, who leads the Southern Environmental Law Center’s National Forests and Parks Program, said. “People in the Southeast and across the country want a place to get away from the noise and commotion of roads and development. The Roadless Rule promises that our least-developed public lands can be enjoyed by all of us for generations to come without the threat of reckless roadbuilding and other destructive projects. Getting rid of it will degrade popular recreation areas, imperil already-rare wildlife, and do long-lasting harm to our national forests as well as the communities and local economies that depend on them.”

The announcement criticizes the Roadless Rule as an “impediment” to protecting these areas from wildfire. However, the Roadless Rule already contains an exception for removing dangerous fuels—an exception that the Forest Service has been using extensively for years. Rescinding the Rule, however, would open these areas to mining, oil and gas development, and timber production.

Roadless protections are especially important in the southeastern United States, where much of our public land has already been fragmented by roadbuilding to extractive industry. The Roadless Rule ensures that backpackers, mountain bikers, climbers, and kayakers have a place to get away from roads, machinery, and noise. Repealing these key protections will lead to irreversible damage to these incredible landscapes.

Facts about roadless areas in the South:

• Alabama: Of Alabama’s 665,000 acres of national forests lands, just 13,000 acres qualify as roadless, mostly around Mt. Cheaha and nearby Dugger Mountain. These areas are highly valued by hikers and hunters for their backcountry values.
• Georgia: Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest is fortunate to have about 63,000 roadless acres. These are spread across more than a dozen different areas, such as the Mountaintown Creek roadless area, popular with mountain bikers and home to the famous Gennett Poplar, a massive old-growth tree.
• North Carolina: North Carolina boasts 172,000 roadless acres, from the mountains to the coast. They include the Pisgah National Forest’s Laurel Mountain roadless area, important to backcountry mountain bikers, and the South Mills roadless area, which is beloved by trout anglers.
• South Carolina: South Carolina has relatively little roadless acreage—only about 8,000 acres total—and their rarity makes them even more important to protect.
• Tennessee: Tennessee is home to around 85,000 roadless acres, including on Holston Mountain, the scenic backdrop for Holston Lake, and the headwaters of the Tellico River.
• Virginia: Virginia boasts more roadless acreage than any other state in SELC’s region with 394,000 acres. Within a day’s drive of more than half the country’s population, these roadless areas anchor a thriving recreation economy and provide incomparable backcountry recreation opportunities for hikers, bikers, and anglers.