Note: A full audio recording of this teleconference is available for download. You’ll also find high-resolution speaker and scenic photographs available for download, background paper, timeline, and full text of each speaker’s introductory remarks.
WASHINGTON (January 22, 2008) - A panel of speakers headed by former U.S. Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck today celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule - heralding the environmental, recreational and business impact of a rule that protects nearly 60 million acres of wilderness but still faces a variety of legal challenges.
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| Hum Lake, Secesh Roadless Area, Payette NF -- Photo courtesy of John McCarthy/TWS |
"In spite of seven years of Bush administration effort, roadless areas remain protected in the National Forests of the lower 48 states, but more litigation to remove protection is in progress with the outcome uncertain," said Mike Dombeck, the architect of the roadless policy who is now a professor of global conservation at the University of Wisconsin.
Dombeck added that the rule has played a key role in protecting wildlife habitat, preserving clean drinking water, providing recreational opportunities for people, and providing a defense against global warming. The highly popular policy has also kept nearly all the lands free from energy development, mining, logging, and roadbuilding.
Holly Endersby, an Idaho resident who is a back-country angler, hunter, and equestrienne, called on her state to stop its efforts to change the way its more than 9.3 million acres of roadless lands are managed.
"Idaho still has what other states don't: unroaded, public land that protects wildlife, water quality and offers a connection to the natural world for all citizens," she said. I hope my grandchildren will get to travel and live in wild country like I have. I hope they thrill to a wild trout on the end of their fly line and gasp in wonder at bull elk bugling in the fall. And I hope we adults are wise enough to keep the last best wild, unroaded places safe for them and for those all who come after."
Protected public lands are also good for business, according to Amy Roberts, director of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association - a trade association for companies in the active outdoor recreation business.
"Active outdoor recreation contributes $730 billion annually to the U.S. economy," she said. "It supports 6.5 million jobs in the U.S, generates $88 billion in annual state and national tax revenue, and generates $289 billion annually in retail sales and services.
The bottom line is the active outdoor recreation economy and its continued growth is fundamentally based on the availability and preservation of high-quality places to play."
Dombeck agreed.
"Any time you build a road, you change the human interaction with the land," he said.
The speakers also addressed subjects including:
- The potential for mining on roadless lands
- The efforts by the Bush administration and the states of Idaho and Colorado to overhaul roadless land management
- The detrimental effect of increased firefighting costs on roadless lands coupled with the Forest Service's shrinking budget
- The merits of pending congressional legislation that could fortify roadless protection
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