Tom Tiffany: “My amendment strikes funding in the bill to close existing Forest Service roads. Maintaining and expanding access to our…”

“My amendment strikes funding in the bill to close existing Forest Service roads. Maintaining and expanding access to our public lands has been a priority for me and many of my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee this Congress. Another lesser-known but equally important threat to access is the closure and decommissioning of roads and trails. Since 1991, the Forest Service has decommissioned an average of 2,000 miles of roads per year. Public lands across the Nation are under threat from big-city environmental groups that are hellbent on restricting public access to our shared public lands. Shutting down these avenues for access doesn't just limit opportunities for recreational opportunities, like hunting, fishing, and ATVing, but it also makes responsible management efforts more difficult and expensive. That is exactly their goal. My subcommittee saw these road closures firsthand in the Chequamegon- Nicolet National Forest in my district during a field hearing in May. It is not a coincidence that many of these local road closures correlate with the decline in the local forest products industry, the same industry that helps keep our forests and the communities that depend on them healthy and vibrant. Forest Service roads can also act as an important firebreak for wildfires and allow quicker access for fighting them. The language of decommissioning roads that are no longer needed is quite vague.…”