Terry Anderson

On Aug. 23, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it is considering rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. …Not surprisingly, the announcement drew an immediate backlash from environmentalists and Democrats. …The data, however, support Rollins’s call for better fuel management. True, roughly 85 to 90 percent of wildfires are human-caused… Areas with higher human traffic and vehicles experience a much higher concentration of fire starts. But these are not the fires that spread rapidly and far. The primary drivers behind large and rapid spreading fires are related to inaccessibility. …recreationists visiting the wilderness could care less about whether the land is untrammeled. They just want to get outdoors without hiking miles carrying a heavy backpack. …Rescinding the roadless rule is not a threat to federal wilderness; it is a statement that we have enough already and that we need to manage it rather than let it burn.