OLYMPIA — Washington tribal leaders and environmental advocates are speaking out against the Trump administration’s plan to repeal protections for 2 million acres of national forests in the state.
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed scrapping the so-called Roadless Rule: a federal regulation established in 2001 that prohibits road construction, logging and mining across millions of acres of national forest land.
The rollback would end protections for about 45 million acres nationwide. Public comment on the proposal is open through Sept. 19.
“We are trying to drum up as many comments as we can, telling them that this is absolutely foolhardy and we will not stand for it,” said Lia Brewster, a Northwest conservation campaign strategist for the Sierra Club, during a rally on the state Capitol steps on Monday.
Volunteers at the Olympia rally gathered opposing public comments from about 120 people.
Rescinding the rule is in line with the Trump administration’s commitment to remove “burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk, but also stifle economic growth in rural America,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement last month.
As opposition boils up, industry groups, like the American Forest Resource Council, are endorsing the administration’s move, saying that leaving the forests off limits has allowed them to grow too dense, raising the risks of wildfires and tree disease.
Opponents counter that the Roadless Rule allows for wildfire mitigation in the protected areas and argue that more human activity in the forests will increase fire risks.
More than 95 percent of the areas under the Roadless Rule are in 10 Western states, including roughly 2 million acres in Washington state and an additional 2 million acres in Oregon.
Washington lands protected by the Roadless Rule include forests around the edges of Olympic National Park and Mt. Rainier National Park, near Lake Quinault, Mt. Baker and Washington Pass, and much of the Kettle Range in northeast Washington.
“The roadless areas are the marrow of the bone. They are the core of the core, and the most important that we have,” Brewster said.
In the Olympic National Forest, the Roadless Rule protects critical salmon spawning habitat, according to a map developed by the forest advocacy group Sportsmen for Wild Olympics.
“Rescinding the Roadless Rule is yet another attempt to hand over our essential public resources to special interests — at the expense of salmon, clean water and future generations,” said Ashley Nichole Lewis, a Quinault Indian Nation fishing guide and spokesperson for Sportsmen for Wild Olympics.
The Trump administration first announced its intent to rescind the Roadless Rule in June.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced late last month it had taken the next steps to do so by filing a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
The Olympia rally was the second of nine stops for the Indigenous-led campaign “Xaalh and the Way of the Masks” protesting the planned repeal of the rule.
Launched by the Lummi Nation’s House of Tears carving family and the Indigenous-led nonprofit Se’Si’Le on Saturday, the two-week campaign involves taking a newly carved totem pole and 10 cedar spiritual masks on a 1,700-mile journey between rally venues in Washington and Oregon before delivering them to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe west of Port Angeles on Sept. 20.
“These masks, they represent transformation. They represent leadership,” said Lummi Nation Master Carver Jewell James, adding that the masks and the campaign are intended to inspire people to turn away from environmental destruction and take action.
“We cannot give up. We cannot believe that this country is voiceless,” James said.
Volunteers are collecting public comments from rally attendees at every stop along the campaign. About 200 comments against the repeal were collected at the campaign’s first stop in Bellingham, Brewster said.
The campaign’s next stops are Portland, Eugene and Hood River in Oregon, followed by Asotin, Seattle and Port Angeles.
The Way of the Mask campaign involves Indigenous leaders working alongside various churches and environmental groups, including Disciples of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, the Sierra Club, Center for Responsible Forestry, Washington Conservation Action, Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, Save Our Wild Salmon.
“We have to remember everything we can do for these forests will matter in the future,” Unitarian Universalist Rev. Florence Caplow said during Monday’s rally.
Independently from the campaign, local environmental advocacy groups such as Washington Wild, Conservation Northwest, the Washington Trails Association, Kettle Range Conservation Group and The Mountaineers are encouraging Washington residents to submit public comment this month opposing the repeal of the Roadless Rule.
Sportsmen for Wild Olympics is one of several advocating for Congress to pass the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which would establish new protections for 126,000 acres of forest and 464 miles of river on the Olympic Peninsula.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Seattle, has pushed the legislation for years, and freshman U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, who represents the Olympic Peninsula, has introduced a version in the House.
The legislation is controversial, with opponents saying it would hurt the timber industry and the region’s economy. It stands little chance of passage with Republicans in control of Congress.
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Emily Fitzgerald writes for the Washington State Standard (www.washingtonstatestandard.com), an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces original reporting on policy and politics.
