“We’re not proposing wilderness for wilderness’ sake—we’re holding back the concrete tide that already threatens our birthright.”— Pat Williams (I dedicate this piece in memory of Montana’s great statesman whose Congressional legacy includes protecting the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area, the Rattlesnake Wilderness Area, and leading the effort that saved the Bob Marshall Wilderness from oil and gas development. Pat passed away on June 25th, 2025. )
As the Senate Republicans clamor to sell off our public lands to the highest bidder, Trump’s greed team ordered the Roadless Rule of 2001 rescinded. That would open the doors to wrecking close to 60 million acres of de facto wilderness, from 800-year-old trees of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to wildlands protecting the integrity of Grand Tetons, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Crater Lake National Parks.
Wilderness is the heart of our public lands and the soul of America.
The author hugging a Douglas fir in the Lookout Mountain Roadless Area, Ochoco Mountains, Oregon
Will we let this take-it-all-and-break-it administration win? No. We will fight back by instead demanding we permanently protect all roadless areas. The good news? There is now a bill introduced The Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025. Please thank the sponsoring congressional representatives (on the link) and urge your reps to add their name, and defend the Roadless Area Rule. Ultimately, all roadless areas should be designated as Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. But we have to do everything we can to keep them wild and free.
Developing our last wild places is akin to ripping the heart out of our public lands. It’s that serious. These wildlands are essential for supplying, filtering, and protecting drinking water; for sheltering endangered species; as corridors and climate connectors where wildlife and plants need to move to escape the heat and find refuge; and as strategic reserves to protect biodiversity and save our climate.
But facts only go so far. This is all so personal. My favorite places on Earth are roadless. It’s there I find solitude and the beauty of birds. Wilderness is my church. And I know I’m far from alone.
On a recent field trip — a northeast Oregon roadless area that’s part of Joseph Canyon, birthplace of Chief Joseph, as well as a critical wildlife connector between Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Not everyone can get to the roadless areas and Wilderness, but I believe in what the great author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner wrote:
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed ... We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”
I’ve often featured roadless wilds in my blog (www.marinarichie.com). To get a sense of what’s at stake, you might peruse a few I’ve linked below. I hope your heart might beat a little faster, and inspire you to contact your Senators and Representatives to speak up for all who cannot speak for themselves—wolves, wolverines, owls, thrushes, martens, pikas, marmots, mountain goats, elk, deer, swifts, warblers, hawks, eagles, cougars, bighorn sheep, salamanders, frogs, turtles, beavers, trout, salmon, kingfishers….
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Lookout Mountain Roadless Area Summit (featuring the author’s dog Pepper)
Below is an excerpt from the piece on Lookout Mountain for more on the Roadless Rule and how much is actually left out and already at risk:
In 2001 the Forest Service issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule after 600 public hearings. Designed to protect 58.5 million acres of vital wildlands from roading and logging, the rule includes 2 million acres in Oregon. However, the Forest Service inventoried only roadless lands of 5,000 acres and larger. That leaves the smaller roadless areas highly vulnerable. Lookout Mountain is 14,000 acres according to the inventoried roadless area, but 20,000 acres reflect the actual size. Even the inventoried areas are at risk as administrations change
Finally, I’ll leave you with a piece about the wisdom that Wilderness holds—and especially when it comes to the contentious issue of wildfire:
“We simply need that wild country available to us... For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.”- Wallace Stegner
Kingfisher Journey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
