Defend our Roadless Wildlands
The Forest Service owes us public meetings about rolling back
the Roadless Rule
The Forest Service hasn’t held a single public meeting about its plan to roll back the Roadless Rule.
If USFS leadership is serious about improving national forest management, that needs to change.
Public lands belong to all of us.
By rolling back the Roadless Rule, the Forest Service is removing protections from 6.4 million acres in Montana (and almost 60 million nationally). These are the places we go every weekend. They’re where we hike, camp, hunt, fish, and ride. They give us clean drinking water. They support our families, communities, and jobs.
You know these areas: The Swan Range, the heart of the Crazy Mountains, the Beartooth and Bitterroot fronts, and millions more acres across the state.
99% of 625,737 public comments submitted during the 21-day comment period in September opposed rolling back the rule. However, the agency hasn’t held a single public meeting – in Montana or anywhere else – to discuss it.
This is in stark contrast to when the agency was developing the Roadless Rule and held 34 meetings in Montana and more than 600 nationwide. Now, the USFS is rolling back the rule in a reckless hurry. It’s firing or furloughing the staff who’d be responsible for “tailoring management to local land conditions.” And it’s cutting the public out of our public lands.
We’re calling on the USFS to embrace the collaborative spirit that’s shaped Montana’s public lands. If the agency wants to create more opportunities for local discussions in land management decisions, let’s start by holding open meetings for Montana communities to engage with the USFSand shape future decisions.