The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (or roadless rule) currently protects over 58 million acres of United States national forest lands from road construction and logging, including over 4 million acres within the state of Utah. However, Utah has petitioned the Trump administration to issue a state-specific rule that would exempt national forests in Utah from the federal rule, opening 205 inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) to fragmentation.
The Roadless Rule was developed in large part to protect biological diversity, ecological integrity, and habitat for at-risk species. When we assessed the potential impact of the proposed Utah Roadless Rule on at-risk species diversity and ecological integrity, we found that over 100 at-risk species may be adversely impacted by this change. Every targeted IRA potentially supports at least 8 at-risk species, with an average of 25 at-risk species per IRA, and 98.5% of the IRAs may support a federally threatened or endangered species. Furthermore, the targeted IRAs are currently among the least fragmented lands in Utah’s national forests, containing less than 6% as much road length per unit area typically found in other national forest lands. Opening these areas to road construction and logging would fragment Utah’s most intact national forest lands, with extensive expected impacts to the most vulnerable elements of the state’s biodiversity.
See links to our report and related news items here:
[High Country News] [Defenders.org]