They may succeed unless citizens speak out against it. The national forest roadless areas are far more valuable for their environmental and recreation values than for timber cutting, Dr. Marks said. National forest roadless areas protect watersheds. Marks said that national forests are wonderful places to escape from our harried lives in the cities. The national forests receive three times the number of visitors that our national parks get.
People come to the forests for sightseeing, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and other recreation.
That's good for the economy too. Recreation in the national forests contributes 40 times as many dollars to the economy as logging in the national forests. Protecting roadless forest areas is good for the taxpayers. Timber sales are subsidized by the federal government, corporate welfare which costs the taxpayers millions per year. The national forest system already has nearly 400,000 miles of logging roads, and the Forest Service doesn't have the funds to take care of existing roads properly, let alone new roads.