Those areas which have escaped the road grader this long are overwhelmingly on public lands, many within national forests. They exist in spite of efforts to punch roads into and log our last unprotected lands. Almost all of our nation's forests have been cut over at least once. And still the government wants to subsidize more roads to log more forests. Continued road-building in unprotected, unroaded wildlands is a major threat to some of the most important and rare wildlife habitat in the nation.
Many diverse species rely on the unique habitat characteristics provided by roadless lands.
Large, wide- ranging species like grizzlies and lynx hang on in the western U.S. because they still have some roadless lands to retreat to. In other parts of the country, particularly the east, species as diverse as migratory birds and black bears take refuge from predators in remaining blocks of unfragmented forest. Erosion from roads and clearcuts pollutes streams and rivers, threatening the survival and reproduction of fish which need clean water. Our remaining roadless lands are disappearing fast. The first step towards protecting these valuable habitats is to end government subsidies to logging companies to open them up.