This is a series on Roadless Rule misinformation. Read: Part 1 Here | Part 2 Here
Almost every time we see restrictions enacted on public lands that are designed force one-size-fits-all management, we see a chorus of anti-access advocates reassure us that these restrictions won’t affect recreation users. We see this with National Monuments. We see this with the Bureau of Land Management rule to create conservation leases. And we are certainly seeing it in the public debate about the Roadless Rule.
Fortunately, a user who goes by the name of “Works for Nature” made a brutally honest comment about the real purpose of the Roadless Rule.
This comment confirms the primary contention we made in our legal fights against the Roadless Rule: That its purpose is to create de facto wilderness. The end game is to eventually have Congress designate these areas as official Wilderness under the Wilderness Act. The USFS currently manages 36 million acres of designated Wilderness, and the Roadless Rule has essentially paved the way for 58 million acres to be managed for future Wilderness designation.
For this reason, even though on paper, various activities are currently “allowed” in designated Roadless areas, the litigious wilderness groups that want to see these lands turn into wilderness one day aggressively pressure the agencies to manage these acres as wilderness. The Roadless Rule gives them a strong legal basis for doing this.
Not surprisingly, the first recreation access casualty of this exercise in wilderness laundering is motorized recreation access. For example, while it remains to be seen how the Manti La Sal National Forest will update its Forest Plan revision process that has been underway for several years, these two maps show you how the Roadless Areas in the forest are creating almost exactly the boundaries for the semi-primitive non-motorized areas.
As you can see on the left map above, the brown areas are the designated Roadless Areas in this forest district. The map on the right shows where the forest is proposing to manage all the areas in pink for semi-primitive, non-motorized access. So even if the forest theoretically could allow motorized access into the roadless areas, if they adopt a forest plan that designates the roadless areas for semi-primitive non-motorized access, they actually won’t allow this access. So while it has taken several years for various forests to update their plans, the progression clearly confirms what the blog commenter above is clearly telling us. The point is to turn all of this into permanent Wilderness. The direct result of this progression is the loss of access to 58 million acres for dirt bikes, off-roaders, and vehicle-based dispersed camping. Add this Roadless acreage to the existing Wilderness, and this means nearly half of our national forests will be ultimately off limits to the vast majority of Americans who want to use them.
While we expect those who are pathologically opposed to motorized recreation to find no problems with this massive restriction of public access to our public lands, if these forests are designated as permanent Wilderness these other groups that will be affected:
- Mountain Biking — if roadless areas are ever transformed into official Wilderness areas, all mechanized access will be prohibited, and this prohibition definitely includes mountain biking. The Outdoor Alliance is an organization that is lying to its supporters to support the Roadless Rule by telling them it protects 19,596 miles of mountain biking trails. Because these Roadless areas are targeted for future wilderness designation, these 19,596 miles are at risk of being closed to mountain biking unless the Roadless Rule is rescinded. These trails definitely will be closed if the Wilderness is designated, they definitely will stay open if they are no longer in designated roadless areas.
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With 19,596 mountain bike trails at risk of closure from the long term intended effects of the Roadless Rule, we are building a community of advocates who want to see more of our forests open for pedal-assist e-bikes. We need all users to have a vested commitment to mulitple use management. We are currently giving away a Bakcou Scout e-bike to build support for this cause, and you can enter today by making a donation to support our work. As a BRC reader, we’re giving you 30% bonus entries if you enter by clicking the link here!
- Climbing – The Outdoor Alliance and the Access Fund have both been mobilizing rock climbers to support the Roadless Rule, because there are 8,743 climbing routes in these areas. If these areas become Wilderness, then the climbing will also be heavily restricted. Climbing won’t be completely prohibited like mountain biking will, but is heavily restricted. The recently passed EXPLORE Act did recognize that climbing is an appropriate activity in Wilderness areas, but the creation of new routes will require agency analysis and approval – which means these routes will be subject to litigation and challenge by wilderness litigation groups who vehemently opposed this provision of the EXPLORE Act. Power tools also won’t be allowed for maintenance of existing routes.
- Hang Gliding – Just like mountain bikes, hang gliders are considered mechanized equipment when it comes to wilderness restrictions. Again this activity will only be restricted if the Roadless areas are designated as Wilderness, but that is the plan at the end of the day. We recognize that this is a small user group, but the point is to show that the unintended consequences of this will be far-reaching to groups that are least likely to expect it. If you enjoy recreating in our forests, multiple use management carries much less risk that your favorite activity will be banned.
- Snowmobiles – Open country snowmobiling doesn’t require roads, but as seen in the Manti La Sal maps above, the roadless designations become the non-motorized designations in Forest Plans, which is leading to restrictions on snowmobiles in multiple forest plans we’ve reviewed in recent years. Of course if the areas are designated as Wilderness, snowmobiling will be absolutely restricted.
- Commercial guiding and events – If roadless areas are designated as Wilderness, you can expect to see restrictions and prohibitions on any commercial guiding services or organized events that take place in these areas.
- Commercial photography – Also not allowed in designated Wilderness without a permit. So go take your pictures of these roadless areas now before the wilderness advocates get their wish.
These are just examples of the kind of recreation that will likely be affected over the long term as the Roadless Rule is implemented to its final end game. Even if you’re preferred form of recreation is currently allowed in a Roadless area, there is a high risk that this access will only be temporary. Rescinding the rule will reduce the risk that your recreation access will be restricted. Of course, the rescission will also make new areas available for motorized access that is currently restricted. Finally, as we’ve discussed in other posts, removing the Roadless Rule will enable the U.S. Forest Service to better manage our forests, which will make your recreation experiences more enjoyable.
Read more…
More to come— so stay tuned! But don’t delay letting your representatives and the USDA know that you support rescinding the Roadless Rule. You can do both via the form below. Comments are due September 19th!
