Save our Roadless Forests

Roads are devastating for snakes and other wildlife. They disrupt movement, migration, and act as barriers to gene flow. Road mortality is one of the greatest threats to snakes in the US, killing millions every year.

The proposed rollback of the 2001 Roadless Rule jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system. These forests have only remained intact because of the Forest Service’s nearly 25-year-old commitment not to build roads in these areas for harmful activities like major logging operations or oil-and-gas drilling.

More roads means more wildfires, logging, mining, and fossil fuel extraction. Roads threaten our drinking water and vital habitat for wildlife.

We don’t need more roads in wild places. Tell Secretary Rollins not to rescind the Roadless Rule.

Photo: Black-tailed Rattlesnake crossing a dirt road in southern Arizona.