Ask Your Members of Congress to Protect the Roadless Rule

Nearly 45 million acres of national forest lands across the country are currently at risk of losing their protections from permanent road-building and extractive activities. The current administration is in the process of possibly rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (a.k.a. the Roadless Rule).

A few bills are also moving through Congress that would affect the Roadless Rule legislatively. Recently, the Wildfire Prevention Act (S.140) was amended to nullify the Roadless Rule and advanced from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to the full Senate. There is also a bill that would rescind the Roadless Rule (H.R.7695) introduced into the House by Rep. Harriet M. Hageman (R-WY-At Large). That bill has already received a hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee, but it has not advanced to the full House. Lastly, there is the Roadless Area Conservation Act sponsored by Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR-6) in the House (H.R.3930) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in the Senate (S.2042).

The Roadless Rule protects vast swaths of national forests that are home to thousands of miles of runnable trails. Many iconic race events, such as Western States, take place in inventoried roadless areas. Roadless areas are also vital for clean water, clean air, and biodiversity.

Please take a moment to send messages to your representative and senators urging them to vote against anti-Roadless Rule bills such as H.R.7695 and S.140 and to co-sponsor the Roadless Area Conservation Act if they haven’t already. You will need to enter your information twice, once to contact your representative and again to contact your senators. The system will identify your legislators based on your address, and a customizable message will be pre-populated based on whether those legislators are on particular key committees and/or whether they are already co-sponsors of the Roadless Area Conservation Act. Note that a few senators cannot be contacted through this system because they have not provided an email address or for other technical restrictions.