Laura Deehan

In 1905, Republican President Teddy Roosevelt made a speech at the Grand Canyon and warned Americans not to “treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for two or three years for the use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the water, the scenery.” …Those words seem especially relevant now, following the news that the Trump administration is proposing to roll back the “roadless rule” protections against logging, road-building and other industry in nearly 45 million acres of pristine U.S. national forest land.  …Fewer than 1% of wildfires in the lower 48 states since 2010 have started in roadless areas of national forests. …If the new rule is approved, more than 4 million acres of California’s pristine, wild forests … would be open to industrial logging, mining and road building. …We are urging Californians to submit comments opposing the rollback within the 30-day public comment period.  [A subscription to the SF Chronicle is required for full access]