Road construction would come at an extreme environmental cost. According to a retired Forest Service employee familiar with the area, the road would be built on steep and potentially unstable slopes. Public documents state that trees up to 39 inches in diameter would be removed to bulldoze the new road. Species thought to use the area include mountain lions, fishers, ringtail cats, and martens. Nearby streams may also be affected, including wildlife, such as trout, tailed frogs, and yellow-legged frogs. Roadless areas are the largest tracts of intact wild lands outside of wilderness areas and they provide landscape habitat connectivity for wildlife.
Road construction through public land is unnecessary. The parcel in question is not landlocked; SPI can access the parcel through its own lands, however it does not want to spend the money if the Feds would do it for them. Further, SPI routinely utilizes helicopter logging for other areas where it would be too difficult or costly to put in a logging road.
This road is unwarranted and comes at too great of an ecological cost. Tell Forest Supervisor Myers that you don’t support roads for private logging in roadless areas!