By Angela Diana, Alliance Intern from Cornell University ‘28
In the US, we have very strict property and trespassing laws, and that’s not a bad thing. But it’s important for people to have public places to go outside of their homes and workplaces. We’re losing too many human-made spaces: shopping malls give way to Amazon Prime, restaurants become drive-throughs, libraries reduce hours or close at alarming rates due to lack of funding.
The one place you can go when every other door closes is the natural world. The trees will always be open for walking through, at all hours, on weekends and holidays.
Railroads, logging companies, and mining tycoons have been trying to get at our protected wild spaces since protections were put in place. But despite the attempted attacks, the actions of conservationists have kept them mostly safe.
Trump’s USDA has announced a plan to rescind Roadless Rule protections on 45 million acres of National Forests. Roadless areas are where Americans hike, climb, bike, paddle, ski, hunt, and explore — and rolling back the Rule would allow new roads and large-scale logging in some of our most wild backcountry areas, shares the Outdoor Alliance.
This move would affect more than 7 million acres of critical habitat for endangered species and pose a catastrophic threat to 88 federally protected animals and plants across the country, including grizzly bears, Canada lynx, wolverines, spotted owls, and native fish, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. It would also harm more than 300 other protected species that live in roadless areas but don’t have designated safeguards for their habitat.
The USDA has opened a final comment period, ending October 6. Join the Alliance in submitting a comment for the USDA using Outdoor Alliance’s form to voice your support for maintaining the Roadless Rule as is.
We’re also signing Sierra Club’s petition to help protect our wildest forests from Trump.