Our Forests with Roads Paying for Our Forests' Destruction Subsidized Munching Back to Index T here are more than 400,000 miles of roads on the National Forest System. That's mileage enough to go to the moon and halfway back. Such costs are highest when the Forest Service builds roads into roadless areas , ruining some of the few remaining wild areas in our country in order to conduct timber sales that consistently lose the most money. Forest roads lead to loss of habitat, with ten acres of forests cleared for every mile of road built.
Roads facilitate the invasion of weeds, which can force out native species of plants.
New forest roads are almost always dedicated to the timber program. While programs for recreation and wildlife habitat are chronically underfunded, the Forest Service staunchly defends a timber road building program that is inefficient and costly to operate.