The roadless area issue is one best addressed through legislation other than appropriations. The appropriate management action for roadless areas should be addressed in individual forest plans. Although the Society of American Foresters believes in creating wilderness, Congress should not enter into wilderness designations lightly. There are roadless areas that need treatment to avoid catastrophic fire, loss of soil productivity and degradation of water quality, all of which can be addressed through forest management. Prohibiting entry in roadless areas eliminates the options of land managers.
Roads provide access for fighting forest fires, pest outbreaks, and disease.
Forest roads are the single most important infrastructure component that supports natural resource professionals in the maintenance of healthy forest ecosystems. Critics of the road budget contend that the national forest system contains more road mileage than the interstate highway system. Although this is true, it is an unfair comparison. Forest Service roads are predominantly single-lane aggregate or soil surface roads, where as the interstates are largely flat, straight, paved and four or more lanes. If one were to make a fair comparison, one should look at other forested lands.