Keith Coulter

While environmentalists oppose the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule … I see this as an opportunity for professional foresters to manage federal land, reduce wildfire risk and boost the economy.  I’ve spent 30 years in the industrial logging sector of the Western U.S. in states such as Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. …Recently, I read a commentary in the Alaska Beacon that argued for maintaining the Roadless Rule and I was not surprised to view the typical laundry list of doom from one side of the debate. Words like “threatened” and “imperiled” come up as authors weave their case for almost certain environmental ruin unless we curb industrial activities immediately for what can only be described as the “do-nothing alternative.” As a professional forester with decades of boots-on-the-ground experience, a few obvious counterpoints come to mind. …We already know how to solve forest management issues: with roads and active forest management.