Conservation value of national forest roadless areas

Abstract

Abstract Conservation scientists call for establishing additional protected areas amidst ongoing threats of expanding human development. Nevertheless, some existing protected areas are being downsized and demoted of their existing conservation protections. In 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibited road construction and timber harvest in 240,000 km2 of inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) located on United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service lands. IRAs represent a non‐legislative protected status that is in jeopardy of conservation demotion or “degazettement,” and few national protected area assessments recognize the IRA designation. Since the rule's conception two decades ago, little research has been conducted to assess the conservation values of IRAs and the values they could add to the existing system of highly protected areas in the continental United States. To increase understanding of these conservation values, we assessed three aspects of roadless areas: (a) how wild and intact are IRA lands compared to state, national, and protected lands, (b) how do IRAs complement the size, connectedness, and representation of protected lands, and (c) how do IRAs contribute to protection of important ecosystem services (drinking water and annual carbon capture)? Through this analysis we found that many IRAs are among the most wild, undeveloped areas both in the nation and within their respective states. IRAs increase the size of—and reduce isolation between—protected areas, likely buffering them from external stressors. In some places, IRAs protect watersheds that deliver drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people. IRAs also add significantly to the total carbon captured by existing protected areas. The results of our evaluation demonstrate the potential of IRAs to contribute to the conservation value of the U.S. protected area system and to deliver important ecosystem services.

Keywords

• buffers
• conservation reserves
• drinking water
• ecosystem services
• inventoried roadless areas
• protected areas