Roadless area conservation

These areas provide critical habitat for more than 1,600 threatened, endangered, or sensitive plant and animal species.

[4] Roadless area conservation is not without criticism—especially from mining and lumber industry officials, as well as from politicians, libertarian and federalist political groups, and ORV enthusiasts.

[5] When he entered office, the U.S. president at that time, George W. Bush, modified these regulations to allow a more autonomous approach, wherein state governments would be permitted to designate their own roadless areas.

[8][9] In 2011, a federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado, upheld the government's authority to prohibit Western states from building roads on public land.

[10] The roadless rule is the law of the land after surviving its final legal challenge on March 25, 2013, when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the state of Alaska's challenge that, while aimed at the Tongass National Forest, would have nullified the national rule.

[11] Clear-cut lands lose the carbon sink of old-growth forest, habitat for wildlife, and soil stability, causing landslides.

"[12] A notable American proponent of roadless wilderness areas was writer Edward Abbey in his book Desert Solitaire.