Patrick Parenteau

…the Trump administration wants to build more roads in America’s national forests to expand timber production, specifically in untouched areas currently protected by the 2001 federal Roadless Rule. In announcing the administration’s formal proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins argued that building roads is important for fighting wildfires. However, data show that roads actually tend to increase the risk of fires igniting. …If the Trump administration goes through with rescinding rule …you can count on lawsuits, and they won’t be easy for the administration to win. …I am an environmental law scholar who argued the first case upholding the Roadless Rule, in 2002. …If the administration’s plan goes forward, the Forest Service will find itself in the eye of a storm, with more roads to maintain than it can manage, more lawsuits and rising fire risks as human activity spreads deeper into America’s wildlands.