Tuesday, Oct. 6, marks the deadline for public comment on the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to repeal the so-called “Roadless Rule.”
More than one million acres of national forest land in Arizona are protected by a federal conservation policy that prohibits road construction and logging in those areas.
That includes about 92,000 acres in Pima County, which could be opened up to infrastructure or industry if the Trump Administration repeals that rule
The U.S. Forest Service announced in August its proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that was passed in 2001 under the Clinton Administration.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it is proposing to rescind the rule to remove regulatory burden and return land management decision making to forest managers.
“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” USDA Secretary Brook L. Rollins said in a press release.
Conservation groups are worried that if the rule is rescinded, threatened and endangered species found in Arizona – like jaguars, Mexican wolves, monarch butterflies and Mexican spotted owls – could lose their habitats.
“This is just another blow to conservation for threatened and endangered species,” said Russ McSpadden, the southwest conservation advocate for the Center of Biological Diversity.
McSpadden is concerned that if these roadless areas are opened up to road construction, that could also lead to additional exploratory mining.
The Coronado National Forest has about 480,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas dispersed throughout the Sky Island region, including Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains, the Chiricahua Mountains, the Whetstone Mountains and the Dragoon Mountains.
“These are some of the best ecosystems in terms of health and vitality and sometimes just the most spectacular scenic landscapes that you can find in the national forest system,” McSpadden said.
McSpadden says conservation groups have been put on the defensive as the administration opens more public lands to industrial development.
“I think that’s a beautiful thing that Tucsonans would also appreciate that they can leave Catalina Highway and leave the parking lot and wander off into areas where cars just aren’t allowed and industry is just not allowed,” McSpadden said.
The public is still able to submit comments to the Forest Service’s proposal that protects nearly 45 million acres of national forest land, through midnight eastern time on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
