Rogue-Winema National Forest Brown Mountain Roadless Area. Courtesy USFS.

A decade after it was first adopted by the U.S. Forest Service, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has proven to be remarkably successful in protecting the 58.5 million acres of national forest roadless areas from road building and logging. Only about 75 miles of road building has occurred in the roadless areas — far less than the Forest Service had predicted a decade ago — and just a miniscule fraction of the unroaded forests has been logged, mostly in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Read more

Waterfall in San Miguel Peak Roadless Area, Colorado. Photo by AlphaTangoBravo / Adam, Flickr.

The state of Colorado is attempting to institute a roadless forest management rule that could set a dangerous precedent for the nation’s roadless forests, potentially paving the way for fewer forest protections nationwide. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a revised rule that would exempt the state’s 4.2 million acres of roadless forests from the 2001 national Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects 58 million acres of the nation’s most pristine forests. Read more

Marbled murrelet. Courtesy USFWS.

Just six months into Obama’s presidency, we’re already beginning to see just how much we can get done with an administration that values strong scientific evidence. Last week, after years of foot-dragging by the Bush Administration, the White House released a landmark multi-agency government report on the effects of climate change on the U.S. Just a day later, a scientific report from the U.S. Read more