Virginia's wild national forest lands at risk. Take action today!
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
The U.S. Forest Service has announced plans to open more than 45 million acres of America's wild national forest land to large-scale logging, mining and other development, despite decades-long and widespread public opposition. Virginia, with the most designated “roadless area” acreage in the East, has much to lose.
The Forest Service will only take public comments through September 21. Take action today!
Roadless areas are among the wildest and least developed parts of our national forests — beautiful, peaceful, biologically rich landscapes that are currently designated for protection. The agency plans to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule which has protected these wild areas for the past 25 years. Repealing the rule is environmentally reckless, fiscally irresponsible, and unfair to rural communities who increasingly rely on outdoor tourism.
Here in Virginia, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest has the most roadless acres and the largest roadless areas of any national forest in the East — places like Little River, Skidmore Fork, Adams Peak, and Little Walker Mountain. These areas are not labeled with signage: you might recreate in one without knowing it.
Our national forests belong to all Americans, meaning you have a right to be heard.
Here are two alternative ways to send an official comment to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the Forest Service.
- Short on time? Sign this Virginia Wilderness Committee petition, and we'll send all your names to the agency for the official docket. Each person will be counted individually toward the total number of comments received by the agency, although the agency does not post duplicate comments individually on the website.
- Have a little more time? Personalized, specific comments give the agency more information to evaluate. To send your own comment, visit the Regulations.gov website where you can either enter your comment and upload attachments, or find the address to send a hard copy. (There is no direct email that will be recorded on the agency's docket.)
Questions? Visit our website for more info or email us at info@vawilderness.org.
Thank you!
Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, Executive Director
Sponsored by
To:
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Secretary Rollins:
I wish to express my strong opposition to the U.S. Forest Service's proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
The designated roadless areas on our national forests are some the last remaining wild places in America where nature is at its best. It's because they are undeveloped that they are deeply cherished by generations of hunters, anglers, hikers, equestrians, naturalists, birders, campers, and others.
It's because they are undeveloped that they provide priceless natural-resource services to rural communities and all Americans, including clean drinking water and purified air, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, especially for rare species, and ecological biodiversity.
Once these environmental and recreational assets are impaired or destroyed, they won't come back for a very, very long time.
Here are additional reasons I urge you to maintain the Roadless Area Conservation Rule as is:
- Protect clean drinking water. Communities including Harrisonburg, Staunton, and others downstream rely on clean, low-cost drinking water from roadless areas in the national forest.
- Safeguard rich wildlife habitat. These areas provide habitat for black bears, rare salamanders, 250 bird species, and other wildlife. Roadless areas in Virginia’s national forest contain exceptional biodiversity, including 43 at-risk species and species found nowhere else on Earth.
- Offer outstanding outdoor recreation. Visitors can hike, mountain bike, fish, hunt, camp, ride horses, study nature, and find solitude and renewal in these wild places—experiences that are essential to America’s outdoor tradition.
- Strengthen local economies. People who visit roadless areas support nearby communities by spending on food, fuel, lodging, campsites, gear, and other services.
Among other things, the Forest Service says repealing the Roadless Rule will allow for better fire management in these areas, and more "local control" over individual national forests. However:
- More roads increase wildfire risk. The rule already allows fuel reduction, small tree thinning, and other wildfire prevention management. In Appalachia, more than 80 percent of wildfires are caused by humans. Nationwide, 90 percent of wildfire ignitions occur within 1/2 mile of roads. From 1992 to 2024, wildfires were four times as likely to start in roaded areas than in roadless forest tracts. Even the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology organization supports the current Roadless Rule.
- Local control will not be sufficient. While staff decision-making at the forest level is important to address localized conditions, it is not an adequate substitute for a national conservation-oriented initiative such as the Roadless Rule. Further, the current administration’s policies have added blanket mandates on the agency while simultaneously cutting the workforce, scientific capacity, and budget.
- No more roads are needed. The Forest Service has a $9 billion backlog on maintenance on 370,000 miles of road already under its purview. Muddy runoff from unmaintained roads pollutes streams and degrades adjacent ecosystems.
Thank you.