Latest Library Content from the Roadless Forests campaign

A Roadmap to Clean Water: The Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative PDF

The main threat to water quality in many national forests is the Forest Service’s vast and crumbling road system, an environmentally-harmful vestige of the agency’s industrial logging era. With The Wilderness Society’s strong support, Congress has stepped forward with new funding to address the problem, including $90 million in the Forest Service’s FY 2010 budget for urgent road decommissioning and repairs.

Carbon Storage from Revegetating Unneeded Forest Service Roads PDF

An overlooked opportunity to sequester carbon on National Forests rests with its massive road system. Preliminary analysis by TWS has indicated that returning unneeded Forest Service roads back to a natural state would be equivalent to revegetating an area larger than Rhode Island. We estimate that carbon storage from decommissioning and revegetating unneeded roads on our national forests is 39.5 — 48.5 million metric tons.

Recreation Economic Impact Tool (REIT) XLSPDF

The majority of individuals that visit our national forests participate in quiet, nature based forms of recreation such as hiking, camping, bird watching, and fishing. These same quiet recreationists provide a significant source of revenue for local businesses when they spend money during their visit. It’s important that land managers consider the economic consequences of decisions that they make — such as approving a timber harvest or constructing a dirt bike trail — may result in the displacement of quiet recreationists.

Protecting New Hampshire’s Wild Places PDF

Covering almost 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and Maine, the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) contains some of the most untamed country remaining in the Northeast – yet the Forest Service is approving more destructive logging projects on this single protected “roadless” forests than it has for the rest of the entire country combined.

Getting renewables right: Biomass PDF

The American Clean Energy and Security Act allows for wide expansion of biomass development, bringing economic opportunity to communities across the country — while protecting our nation’s most important and sensitive ecosystems. Unfortunately, efforts to fight climate change and preserve the environment are threatened by powerful industries seeking to strip key biomass sourcing safeguards and remove indirect land use change analyses from most biofuel regulations.

Roadless Area Conservation Policy Chronology PDF

This chronology covers the history of roadless areas.

Ecological Foundations of Fire Management in North American Forests and Shrubland Ecosystems PDF

The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments.

Effects of Timber Harvest Following Wildfire in Western North America PDF

Timber harvest following wildfire leads to different outcomes depending on the biophysical setting of the forest, pattern of burn severity, operational aspects of tree removal, and other management activities. Removal of snags reduces long-term fuel loads but generally results in increased amounts of fire fuels for the first few years after logging unless surface fuels are effectively treated.