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The Chattahoochee National Forest is one of Georgia’s most popular places to relax, hike, camp or fish. The Chattahoochee and other national forests around the country protect clean water, preserve undisturbed wildlife habitat, and provide backcountry recreational opportunities for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, only a fraction of these forests remain undisturbed by extractive industries: 16,000 miles of roads already traverse their acreage.

In 2001, our staff and their allies won a remarkable victory with the enactment of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which placed 58.5 million acres of pristine forest land off-limits to road-building, mining, and virtually all logging.  

Unfortunately, the Bush administration stripped away this vital protection in an effort to give away these pristine forests to the timber industry and other powerful special interests.  Starting with the temporary exemption of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska—America’s largest pristine national forest—the Bush administration went after our forests piece by piece, undermining Roadless Rule protections.  Legal protections for our forests have been batted around in court for the past several years, and as it now stands, forests from the Rockies to the Appalachians are not protected by the Roadless Rule.  As a result, they are more vulnerable to the threat of development.

Environment Georgia is now calling on President Obama to reinstate the Roadless Rule and protect the Chattahoochee National Forests and other wild forests around the country.