How Roadless Rule repeal could affect forests like Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie
MONTE CRISTO — An hour drive from Granite Falls and an hour trek off the Mountain Loop Highway, the only sounds that fill the air are whistling birds, swishing leaves and the constant rushing of the South Fork Sauk River.
The lone indication of civilization is a degraded gravel road once used to access and remove material from old mining sites near the ghost town of Monte Cristo. Roads like this, which are currently an exception in the area, could become a common sight in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
On June 23, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced the department’s plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, a U.S. Forest Service conservation measure prohibiting road construction, reconstruction and timber harvesting in certain areas to preserve undeveloped character and ecological values.
With the rollback, over 58 million acres of national forest will be open to road building and logging — including over 336,000 acres of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
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