Date: 9/19/25 2:04 pm From: Greg D. Jackson via groups.io <g_d_jackson...> Subject: [ALbirds] Conservation alert: US Forest Service ending important Roadless Rule protecting over 58 million acres of roadless land -- last day to comment
AL Birders,
I just saw a TN-Birds note a few minutes ago about planned elimination of
the important US Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Rule (aka
Roadless Rule). This has been in place since 2001 after years of public
consultation and 1.6 million public comments (97% in favor of the rule). The
head of the Forest Service said in June that the Roadless Rule would be
rescinded. If this rule is cancelled, over 58 million acres of previously
protected federal land will be opened for mining and logging, directly
affecting North American bird populations. A three week public comment
period quietly commenced at the end of August.
All of this is news to me, and I suspect many on this list may also not have
heard about it. Unfortunately, the comment period ends TODAY! If you'd like
to record a comment on this proposal with the Forest Service, I found a
quick method online (what I saw on TN-Birds didn't work well):
You can modify the text as you wish, though given the tight time frame even
sending it as is would record it as a negative comment. Doing so will take
less than a minute of your time.
