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On Monday, the Trump administration announced plans to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects nearly 60 million acres of designated roadless areas on National Forest System lands from logging and ecosystem destruction.
The announcement was made by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at the Western Governors' Association conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rollins framed the announcement as a way to preserve forests from devastating wildfires and to sustain the health of forests and grasslands, even though fire ecologists have said that logging does not prevent wildfires.
Clear cutting forests makes the long-term threat of wildfire much worse. Mature and old-growth forests are some of America's best defenses against climate change as they sequester carbon and provide clean drinking water, clean air, and refuge for wildlife.
“It’s ridiculous for Secretary Rollins to spin this as a move that will reduce wildfire risk or improve recreation,” said Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby. “This is nothing more than a massive giveaway to timber companies at the expense of every American and the forests that belong to all of us.”
Senate parliamentarian rejects Senator Lee's public lands sell-off in reconciliation bill
The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that the public land sell-off plan Senator Mike Lee inserted into the budget reconciliation bill does not meet the criteria necessary to be included in the bill because it does not comply with the Byrd Rule, which prevents extraneous matters from being included in a reconciliation bill. It also advised the removal of provisions permitting the Ambler Road and exempting oil and gas sales from full NEPA review, among other provisions in the proposed Senate Energy and Natural Resources bill text.
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People need to pay attention if they care about public lands. Because I worry about it. I spent so much time on public lands, and they mean so much to so many people.”
