Postcards for Public Lands: Greater Yellowstone Coalition Launches Campaign to Protect 45 Million Acres of Public Lands

DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI)– The Greater Yellowstone Coalition gathered at Wydaho Roasters on Wednesday morning to launch a statewide campaign to defend 45 million acres of public lands threatened by potential rollbacks of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a bedrock environmental policy established in 2001, has protected 45 million acres of America’s pristine public lands for a generation and is facing potential elimination.

Last month, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to end a national rule that protects roadless areas on federal forest land.

“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction. Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” said Agriculture Secretary Rollins said in a press release, “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands. It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.”

"It concerns the health of wildlife populations, whether that might be protecting migration routes or keeping special waterways clean, or keeping public lands in public hands. That is what we are about," Grace Lemen, Idaho Conservation Organizer for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said.

In response, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition is organizing a series of 13 regional postcard-writing events throughout Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to build public support and urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to preserve these protections.

"We want the communities that we serve to be involved in protecting these places as well," Lemen said.

Following Wednesday's launch, the coalition has scheduled several upcoming events throughout Idaho:

Driggs
Sept 3, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Wydaho Roasters, 495 S Main St

Pocatello
Sept 3, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Jim Dandy Brewing, 305 E Lander St

Idaho Falls
Sept. 8, 5:30-7 p.m.
Idaho Brewing Company, 775 S Capital Ave

For more information about the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and its mission, as well as future postcard-writing events in Wyoming, click HERE.