Viewpoint: Rescinding roadless rule would be ecological disaster
Howie Wolke
Two threats to wildlands and wildlife loom over the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. First, the Trump administration is moving to rescind the National Forest Roadless Rule, which protects about 45 million acres of roadless country across the nation from bulldozers, chainsaws and the entire “drill baby drill” mentality.
Roadless wildlands include some of the world’s best wildlife habitats – where rare and threatened species such as grizzly and wolverine thrive – not to mention elk, bighorn sheep and many other species that help to define our Montana way of life.
This is a potential disaster for the many wildlife species that depend upon wild roadless habitats. Of course, given the Trump Administrations’ hostility toward conservation, the effort to rescind the Roadless Rule is no surprise.
What may surprise some is that the other threat emanates from organizations claiming to be conservation groups. Wild Montana, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and The Wilderness Society have teamed with mechanized travel proponents to promote the so-called Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act (GYCRA). But don’t let the name fool you.
GYCRA is a huge giveaway to mechanized recreation across many areas of the Gallatin National Forest. For example, north of Yellowstone, the Gallatin Range includes a 240,000-acre roadless area, which encompasses the 150,000-acre Hyallite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.
Instead of designating a 240,000-acre wilderness, GYCRA would protect only about 100,000 acres of the Gallatins, leaving the rest – including the spectacular and wildlife rich Buffalo Horn and Porcupine drainages—open to noisy and damaging forms of mechanized travel. Make no mistake: wildlife will pay the price, along with those of us humans who value peace, solitude and healthy public wildlands.
Please contact your elected officials and tell them to oppose both the elimination of the Roadless Rule and the GYCRA.
Howie Wolke serves on the Wilderness Watch board of directors.