The Trump administration has taken steps to roll back the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a landmark 2001 safeguard protecting 45 million acres of national forest land—including 635,000 acres in Los Padres National Forest—from roadbuilding and industrial logging. A 21-day public comment period has been opened for the proposed repeal. Conservation groups, including Los Padres ForestWatch, strongly oppose the move, calling it politically motivated and harmful to wildlife, watersheds, and recreation. They argue the repeal is falsely justified as wildfire prevention, when in reality, more roads increase wildfire risk and strain the already $5 billion Forest Service road maintenance backlog.
Read the full article at: Los Padres Forest Watch
