Trump Administration to End Protections for 58 Million Acres of National Forests (gift article)
The Trump administration said on Monday that it would open up 58 million acres of back country in national forests to road construction and development, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to repeal the 2001 “roadless rule” that had preserved the wild nature of nearly a third of the land in national forests in the United States. Ms. Rollins said the regulation was outdated.
The unspoiled land in question includes Tongass National Forest in Alaska, North America’s largest temperate rainforest; Reddish Knob in the Shenandoah Mountains, one of the highest points in Virginia; and millions of acres of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho.
Money, money, money. Everything in this country is for sale. Our people, our land… it all goes to the highest bidder.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration is moving to significantly increase logging in the United States. President Trump has called on cabinet secretaries to bypass endangered species laws and other environmental protections in order to boost the domestic supply of timber.
Ray White of Harold White Lumber and Millworks in Kentucky said he was glad to see an end to restrictions on the land and an opportunity to gain access to new timber. “We’re very pleased to see a little common sense being brought back,” Mr. White said. “It certainly does give the opportunity now to get to a large part of these forests.”
“A little common sense.”
It’s amazing how people without any are so convinced they have it all.