The Center for Conservation Innovation has produced a static map and story map to accompany a report that was released on July 23, 2019 by Defenders of Wildlife. The report documents the exceptional wildlife values of Utah’s national forest roadless areas and illustrates how the state’s proposed removal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule would degrade crucial habitats and fragment watersheds across the state. The report - ‘Predicted Impacts of Utah’s Roadless Area Proposal: Biodiversity Loss, Habitat Fragmentation, and Ecosystem Degradation’ - is timely because a decision by the Trump administration could come at any time on Utah’s February petition to eliminate or reduce longstanding protections of pristine roadless areas in the state’s national forests. High Country News covered the report in an article today weaving together the story of threats to national forest roadless areas in Utah and Alaska. If Utah’s petition is granted, it will allow for destructive logging, roadbuilding and other heavy-handed management at the expense of wildlife in national forests across the state.
As the VP of the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders, Lindsay leads the Center for Conservation Innovation’s science, technology, and policy teams as we work together to pioneer innovative, pragmatic conservation solutions.