Our most intact wildlands are under attack. The Trump administration is working to weaken or eliminate the Roadless Rule, a longstanding safeguard that protects nearly 2 million acres of Oregon’s forests and 58 million acres nationwide from destructive logging and development. These include beloved places like the Metolius River, Lost Lake, the Oregon Dunes, Mount Hebo, Hardesty Mountain, Tumalo Mountain, and the Upper Hood River Valley. The Roadless Rule preserves the last of our intact public lands as a home for wildlife, a haven for recreation, and a heritage for future generations.
This plan to rescind the Roadless Rule comes on the heels of other efforts to undermine foundational environmental laws and policies, as well as direction to ramp up commercial logging in National Forests.
Roadless areas are some of the most intact landscapes we have left. They provide clean drinking water for communities like Bend, Eugene, and Salem. They shelter fish and wildlife, and offer quiet, wild recreation.
When roads are carved into these wild places, they fragment wildlife habitat, pollute drinking water sources, spread invasive species, increase fire risk, and make it possible for industrial logging and mining activities to degrade the landscape.
We must act now to defend our threatened wild places. Personalized comments make a huge difference. If you’re able to talk about Roadless Areas that are special to you and the important values protected Roadless Areas provide (clean drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, etc), all the better.
