The Roadless Rule talk in Redding on July 25, 2026, brought out at least 38 people to listen to a presentation by Tom Wheeler, an attorney and Executive Director for Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) in Arcata. This event was organized by Sierra Club, but co-sponsored by 14 different groups who were happy to lend their name to the effort, including the Shasta Chapter CNPS, which really helped with promoting the event.
There were many familiar faces in attendance. Congressman Gallagher’s staff member Brenda Haynes was in attendance, and Congressman Jared Huffman sent over a short video in support of the Roadless Rule.
We had free pizza and soft drinks, and then Tom presented a PowerPoint talk on issues important to keeping this 2001 rule, which currently protects up to 58 million acres of our wildlands. Some of Tom’s points, augmented with a few of my own, include:
- Many of these Roadless Areas are around our Wilderness Areas, providing a buffer of protection.
- Roads, especially in steep areas, are responsible for sedimentation into streams, degradation of riverine habitats, and degradation of water sources for homes and towns near these roadless areas.
- Fire: 95% of wildland fires are caused by humans. Roads bring people into forested areas, which increases wildfire risks. There are estimates that 84% of wildfires begin within 300 feet of a road.
- Destruction of habitat:
- Logging companies use roads to “manage” the forests (i.e., to take out the largest trees).
- Roads break up habitats. The larger the road, the larger the animal it affects. For small animals, all road sizes can have a detrimental effect.
- The easy access that roads provide would open greater areas to mining and fossil fuel exploitation, which destroy and pollute natural areas.
Attendees left the meeting with a greater understanding of what is at stake if Roadless Areas are lost. Before the meeting broke up, we provided the addresses, phone numbers, and websites of Congressman Gallagher and Senators Padilla and Schiff. You can still contact Congressman Gallagher by phone, letter, or email:
Congressman James Gallagher
2885 Churn Creek Road, Suite C
Redding, CA 96002
530/223-5898 (If you call after 5 PM, you can leave a message.)
Email form: https://gallagher.house.gov/contact/email-me
We highly recommend that you contact Congressman Gallagher; he is up for re-election in November. If you would like a sample script, please email sierraclub.shasta@gmail.com. ~David Ledger