This week, the federal government announced plans to undo a rule that protects roadless areas in national forests — including more than 635,000 acres of Los Padres National Forest.
The 2001 Roadless Rule bans road construction and timber harvesting on nearly 59 million acres of national forest land. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is claiming those restrictions make it harder to manage wildfires in high-risk areas.
However, Los Padres ForestWatch Director of Conservation & Research Bryant Baker said he disagrees with that rationale.
“I think that the administration right now is using the threat of wildfire as an excuse to do a lot of things, including increasing timber harvesting in national forests across the country,” he said.
According to Baker, roads and logging could destroy sensitive habitat and even make wildfires worse by increasing fires caused by human activity.
Several lawmakers, including Democratic Congressman Jimmy Panetta of Monterey, are backing a bill to protect the Roadless Rule in federal law. Baker urges Central Coast residents to call their representatives and voice support for the bill which is called the Roadless Area Conservation Act.
