The Trump administration is moving to put North Carolina’s national forests at risk for construction.
The Trump administration is attempting to roll back a federal rule, known as the Roadless Rule, which prohibits logging within large swaths of U.S. national forests. The Trump administration’s effort to eliminate it would strip protections from more than 172,000 acres of public lands in North Carolina, including portions of the Croatan, Pisgah-Nantahala, and Uwharrie National Forests.
“From the cool pristine mountain water that Deep Creek is known for to the elk that roam our western North Carolinian forests, roadless areas are a beautiful part of our state’s natural heritage,” Emily Mason with Environment North Carolina, told WUNC. “It is more important to protect these areas than to get a little more wood or to build one more mine or one more road. Let’s keep our wild forests wild.”
The USDA has given the public a tight window to provide feedback before moving forward with the reversal, which many advocates and locals have pointed out as being concerning, as it leaves North Carolinians with little time to push back.
According to Coastal Review, the Sierra Club has launched a campaign to inform the public of the administration’s efforts and what’s at stake if the rule is rolled back.
“Americans love their national forests,” Erin Carey, state conservation policy director of the North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club, told Coastal Review. “They love their parks. They love these open spaces, and they’re very protective of them. That is what’s at risk is the ability for not only us, but for future generations to be able to wander out into the wild and really experience wilderness and experience wildness.”
Critics of the Trump administration’s plan to erase the rule have also pointed out that putting oil and gas production in national forests would put rich, biologically diverse forest areas at risk. It could also create the potential for pollution and oil spills.
“It is more important to protect these areas than to get a little more wood or to build one more mine or one more road,” Carey told Coastal Review. “Let’s keep our wild forests wild”.North Carolinians can submit a public comment to push back against the harmful effort. The deadline to submit public comments is Friday, September 19th.
