Noah Rott, noah.rott@sierralcub.org, 406-214-1990
Helena, MT - Today, the Trump administration announced it is repealing the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This measure conserved more than 58 million acres of National Forest lands by preventing road building, hardrock mining, oil and gas and industrial logging, and was one of the most popular rules in U.S. history after an extensive public process to generate more than 1.6 million comments.
Ninety five percent of the public supported the rule, at a time when the Forest Service was facing an $8 billion backlog in road maintenance, and significant environmental damage from failing roads.
The Roadless Rule included more than 6.4 million acres of National Forest lands in Montana. These are some of the best wildlands for hiking, wildlife viewing, skiing, biking, hunting and fishing in the state. While the Trump administration and Gov. Greg Gianforte argued these areas are open to targeted projects to reduce the risk of wildfire, experts say rescinding the rule will increase wildfire risk while opening up permanent road construction and industrial development.
In response to the repeal, Nick Gevock, Campaign Organizer at Sierra Club, issued the following statement:
"The Trump administration and Gov. Gianforte are using this year’s big wildlife season as a guise to open some of the best wildlife habitat in Montana to industrial development. The fact is we can’t fireproof forests that have burned for thousands of years, and we certainly don’t make them better through large scale industrial road construction, drilling and logging. This administration broke the firefighting system within the federal government, and now it’s using this to hand our public lands to corporations and billionaires at the expense of wildlife, fisheries and the public.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.