Forest Service, Congress Looks at Closing "Roads Less Traveled"
Monday, June 18, 2007
Washington, D.C. - Many of the "long and winding roads" that snake through New Mexico's national forests may soon disappear back into the wilderness. Congress is looking at funding a program to close unauthorized, redundant and rarely used forest roads, and a new analysis shows closing the roads will save money later.
Chris Mehl with The Wilderness Society says the Forest Service can only afford to maintain about a third of existing roads. "And so, these other roads are degrading. Every year they degrade, they become more and more likely to wash out, cause real problems for water quality, destroy fisheries, create real safety issues if somebody is using that road and doesn't know that it washed out."
"The Forest Service just can't keep up with the roads it has, and so the idea of decommissioning is that, eventually, you can keep the access, but you can get rid of some of these unwanted roads, put people to work, improve water quality."
New Mexico's forest roads alone have a maintenance backlog of over $130 million.
get more stories like this via email
United Nations experts are raising concerns about chemical giants DuPont and Chemours, saying they've violated human rights in North Carolina…
Social Issues
The long-delayed Farm Bill could benefit Virginia farmers by renewing funding for climate-smart investments, but it's been held up for months in …
Environment
Conservation groups say the Hawaiian Islands are on the leading edge of the fight to preserve endangered birds, since climate change and habitat loss …
Environment
April has been "Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month," but the pests don't know that. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it's the …
Health and Wellness
The 2024 Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium Public Conference kicks off Saturday, where industry experts and researchers will share the latest scientific …
Environment
Environmental groups say more should be done to protect people's health from what they call toxic, radioactive sludge. A court granted a temporary …