Those supporting the Trump administration’s move to rescind the Clinton-era Roadless Rule on national forests might trigger the unintended consequence of derailing efforts to delist grizzly bears in the Lower 48, a prominent bear biologist said.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bear biologist Chris Servheen of Montana said that rescinding the rule is bound to get more grizzlies killed and will fragment vital bear habitat.
“For bears, and for grizzly bears in particular, roads are the biggest source of mortality,” said Servheen, who was the FWS grizzly bear recovery coordinator for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2016.
Roadless Rule On Chopping Block
Servheen spoke during a press conference called as last-minute opposition to the expected rescinding of the Roadless Rule.
Others included members of Congress, conservationists, and backcountry recreation advocates.
Wyoming’s congressional delegation enthusiastically supports Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s decision to rescind the rule.
Then-President Bill Clinton’s administration implemented the Roadless Rule on Jan. 12, 2001. It protects undeveloped national forest land by disallowing road construction in those areas.
The Roadless Rule protects roughly 59 million acres nationally, including about 4 million acres in Wyoming.
Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriett Hageman has long argued for rescinding the rule, claiming that vast roadless areas increase the risk of wildfires raging out of control.
A lack of roads makes it difficult to get firefighting personnel and equipment to wildfire sites, Hageman said.
In a Cowboy State Daily guest column, she argues that the Roadless Rule has led to poor forest management, and potential wildfire fuel has piled up in national forests as a result.
“Bureaucratic prohibitions on roads have sacrificed our ability to conduct the surgical maintenance necessary to insulate our forests from predictable disasters,” Hageman wrote.
Tough On Grizzlies
Servheen at one time supported delisting grizzlies based upon the growing bear population.
However, he later changed his stance, stating that interconnected habitat throughout Wyoming, Montana and Idaho is more vital to full grizzly recovery than the sheer number of bears.
Delisting grizzlies hinges on establishing such habitat, and rescinding the Roadless Rule will undermine that, he said.
Also, more roads in the backcountry will lead to more grizzlies being killed, including by people illegally shooting them from roads, Servheen said.
“Grizzly bears rarely die a natural death; they die because of human activities,” he said.
He noted that the Forest Service is also obligated to provide secure grizzly habitat.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule “will invalidate the Forest Service’s mission to provide secure habitat for grizzlies, if they are delisted,” he said.
“It will prevent delisting,” he added.
For And Against
Supporters of the rule say it protects wildlife habitat and preserves authentic backcountry experiences for hikers, hunters and anglers.
North Carolina outdoorsman Jamie Cameron said during the press conference that remote public lands east of the Mississippi are just as threatened as national forests in the West if the rule is rescinded.
“We stand to lose as much as anybody else in the country,” he said.
Supporters also argue that the Roadless Rule mitigates wildfire risk.
Carson States of Oregon, a wildland firefighter with experience in federal, state, and private fire organizations, echoed that message.
More roads into remote, wild places will increase the number of people in those areas, and thus drive up the risk of fires starting, he said.
“Fires are overwhelmingly tied to human activity,” he said.
He added that more wildfires would mean that firefighting crews will be exposed to more risk.
And accidents while traveling on roads to or from wildfires are among the leading causes of injury and death for wildland firefighters, he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
