A group of protesters gathered outside the Oregon State University forestry summit on Wednesday to protest the potential removal of the roadless rule.
This conference, Science, Stewardship, and Sustainable Forests Resource and Development Summit, had the Trump administration appointed U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz in attendance, who is in favor of rescinding the roadless rule to implement more active forest management.
The protest, about two dozen people, was coordinated by Cascadia Wildlands, a Eugene-based conservation organization.
Protesters were focused on keeping the Roadless Area Conservation Rule intact, which prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in forested lands across the U.S.
In August, the U.S. Forest Service filed a proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in its entirety. According to the U.S. Forest Service website, removing the roadless rule would allow individual areas to be managed with the local ecosystems in mind, instead of through national one-size fits all regulation.
About 59 million acres in the National Forest System is roadless, including 2 million acres in Oregon.
Jack Dodson is a University of Oregon student who said he is worried about the effects of allowing Oregon’s forests to be altered by building roads, and wants the U.S. Forest Service chief to know that.
“We couldn't let him come to Oregon without showing him that we will not stand for the Forest Service's plans to rescind the roadless rule,” said Dodson.
Public comment on the roadless rule is open until Sept. 21. Comments can be mailed or submitted online to Regulations.gov.
