Recommendation 4: Maintain roadless areas and expand wilderness areas
Problem
Roadless areas are increasinngly rare across the West, as roads and other development activities continue to bisect previously intact forestlands. Despite the well-documented negative impacts of development, wildland and wilderness areas — which present unique and valuable opportunities for recreation and research — are increasingly impacted by local and global pressures.
Goal
To promote the value of wilderness and roadless areas as critical components of functioning, healthy landscapes — components that provide many ecological, economic, and social benefits.
Recommendations
- Maintain or expand, where possible, existing wilderness and roadless areas.
- Promote the role of these areas in larger, forested landscapes as critical to strategies for protecting water quality, preserving biodiversity, and sequestering carbon.
