Tools for road-rippers
It’s simple,
they say: If you want more wilderness, get rid of forest roads.
Since l990, Keith Hammer has published a scrappy guide on how to
legally close and restore forest roads. He’s his own best success
story. Hammer has hounded officials of Montana’s Flathead National
Forest to commit to closing and revegetating more than 650 miles of
roads, most constructed for logging. Now, he has updated The
Road-Ripper’s Guide to the National Forests, and a coalition of
environmental groups known as the Road Removal Implementation
Project or ROAD-RIP, has published the step-by-step procedures for
pushing federal agencies to follow their guidelines and shut down
roads. As scientific research pointing to the benefits of road
closures has grown, so has the 22-page guide. It’s now issued in a
loose-leaf binder to accommodate companion guides to national parks
and off-road vehicles, as well as impending publications on Bureau
of Land Management properties and national wildlife refuges. As
Hammer says, “You too can become a Roads Scholar!” The guide is
available for $12 from ROAD-RIP, P.O. Box 7516, Missoula, MT 59807
(406/543-9551).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tools for road-rippers.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
