This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of public forestland across the Appalachian region could lose some protection under the United States Department of Agriculture’s plan to roll back the “Roadless Rule.”
Since 2001, this federal regulation has limited new road construction through protected forestland. The rule protects 58 million acres of forest and wild lands nationally by restricting logging and construction of new roads.
The bulk of roadless areas are spread across public land in the West, but roadless areas in the East are concentrated along the Appalachian mountain chain.
According to a 2020 study by the Forest Service and the Wilderness Society, roadless areas help protect forests from climate impacts like pests and disease, often sheltering older, carbon-capturing trees and maintaining water quality.
In North Carolina, there are 172,000 roadless acres found in national forests. Much of that is in the western part of the state. Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness and the Linville Gorge Wilderness, two iconic features of the mountain region, are inventoried roadless areas. So are many less famous but well-loved spots in the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, like:
- Laurel Mountain, which is a mountain biking destination
- Tusquitee Bald in Clay County
- Fires Creek Recreation Area in Cherokee County
- Black Mountain Crest Trail near Mt. Mitchell
- South Mills Roadless Area, a popular angling destination
- Dobson Knob near Marion
Additionally, the Trump administration’s rule change could affect up to 8,000 acres in South Carolina, up to 394,000 acres in Virginia, 63,000 roadless acres in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest, and 85,000 acres in Tennessee, including areas near the Tellico River around the Citico Creek Wilderness.
The USDA will pursue overturning the rule because, according to Secretary Brooke Rollins, it limits accessibility for timber harvesting and fire management. The administration wants increased logging and thinning of forests, which the USDA says will help boost local economies and keep rural communities safe from forest fires.
“This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grassland,” said Rollins in a release.
A USDA spokesperson told BPR the goal was to put decision-making around public lands back in local jurisdictions.
"Rescinding this overly prescriptive rule will put decision-making back in the hands of local communities and land managers in western North Carolina who know their lands best -- reducing wildfire risk, protecting infrastructure, and keeping forests healthy," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Forest advocates are concerned that this rule will allow more mining and logging in lands that were previously protected from such activities. Sam Evans, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, says the Roadless Rule only existed in the first place because there was so much public support for it. Over 30 years, wilderness lovers across the country arduously mapped what remained of roadless, undisturbed natural places and asked the government to protect them.
“It started back in the 70s with just trying to figure out how much land out there in the National Forest is left, that we haven't developed with roads and timber production and other industrial kind of uses yet,” Evans said. “And it was very little.”
Evans is particularly concerned about the remainder of forests in the East, which are more fragmented than those in the West.
“These are like some of the most important places in North Carolina for back-country recreation, for water quality, for wildlife, rare species,” Evans said.
There will be a public comment period on the subject, with more statementto come soon.
Correction: Sam Evans' name has been corrected.
