ROADLESS: Rollins puts public lands at risk

Despite strong public objection, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is going ahead with plans to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, putting 45 million acres of pristine forests at risk of logging and development. Protected roadless forests are among our most important and most visited public lands. They provide drinking water for millions, preserve many species' wildlife habitat, and are popular recreation spaces — like the Appalachian Trail. Many roadless areas are critical to the livelihood and culture of Indigenous communities.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been in place with bipartisan support for 25 years. Ending it will allow damaging logging, unchecked development and irreversible damage to these special places.

We must ensure these forests remain protected now so future generations can enjoy the same wild places, healthy ecosystems and outdoor traditions we have today.

The promise of public lands in public hands is being broken. Wealthy corporations have spent decades capturing land-management agencies and gutting the policies that protect our public lands. And the institutions we built to safeguard them are now rubber-stamping their destruction.

Submit comments to the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Agriculture Secretary Rollins. Once these lands are in the hands of private interests, they are gone forever.

GAIL MATTHEWS

Kellogg