Summer Solstice 2009, Volume 14 # 2

Often referred to as “the largest road building entity in the world,” the Forest Service boasts a road system of nearly 380,000 miles that cut across national Forest lands. The agency also acknowledges a minimum of 60,000 miles of additional roads that are not “formally” in their system, but that do exist on the land. Wildland roads degrade clean drinking water; fragment wildlife habitat; create vectors for the spread of non-native, invasive weeds; severely damage fisheries and hunting opportunities; and otherwise impact national forest resources.

After graduating from college, a friend and I spent 3 months traveling around the United States backpacking in national parks and forests.  Early in the trip, while still on the east coast (I believe in New Jersey visiting friends, not public lands), we laughed out loud when we saw a highway sign that read “deer overpass” or something like that.  I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was clear that it referred to some type of wildlife bridge or underpass.  We thought the concept was ridiculous… how would a deer know where the bridge was?  Little did I know that just five years

IntroductionClimate has changed throughout the history of our planet and species have adapted and persisted over time (Noss 2001). Unlike previous periods of climatic change, though, many species’ ability to adjust has been severely constrained by anthropocentric alterations of many ecosystems, such as habitat loss and fragmentation. It is these additional environmental stressors that make climate change such a challenge for biodiversity conservation. But while humans have inflated the conservation challenges associated with climate change, we can also help to alleviate them.

Just as this, the final year of the four-year travel planning initiative began, the Forest Service issued a series of guidance documents — known as ‘directives’ — providing detailed instructions to Forest Supervisors on how to go about travel planning.  Unfortunately, portions of these directives run contrary to regulatory requirements as they relate to road and trail management, as well as the 2001 Roadless Rule.