September 18, 2025 • 14 mins
On this episode of The Parks Podcast, I spoke with Brian Bird, a chapter coordinator for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, about the importance of the Roadless Rule. They begin by defining the Roadless Rule as a measure that prohibits road construction on federal lands to protect undeveloped areas. Bird highlights several key reasons for its importance, including preserving continuous habitat for wildlife, preventing erosion, and protecting against commercial logging.
He explains that the rule provides flexibility for land management, including for fire prevention, contrary to some claims. The discussion also touches on how the rule's potential rescission has been politicized, despite public lands being a nonpartisan issue that is important to all Americans.
Bird explains the rule's specific importance to hunters and anglers. For them, "backcountry" means areas that require effort to access, providing a peaceful and untouched environment free from the noise of vehicles. The rule protects these areas, which are crucial for the integrity of the hunting and fishing experience and the well-being of game species. He also notes the ecological impact of road construction, which can lead to increased sediment and disrupt stream ecology, harming fish populations.
The episode concludes with an urgent call to action. With the public comment period on the proposed rescission ending soon, Bird emphasizes that submitting a comment is a quick and effective way for listeners to voice their support for the Roadless Rule. He encourages everyone to use the provided links from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers to contact their legislators and the Department of Agriculture, and to share the episode to raise awareness about the issue.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
At a time when our public landsare under attack, we get curious
asking questions of those whoare close to the topic.
Join me as we talk about theRoadless rule and why it
matters.
I'm your host, Missy Rents, andthis is the Parks podcast.
Missy Rentz (00:19):
In today's quick episode, I'm talking to Brian
Bird.
Brian is the chapter coordinatorfor Backcountry Hunters and
Anglers, and Brian was kindenough to join me to talk about
the Roadless rule.
Brian, welcome to the Parkspodcast.
Brian Bird (00:34):
Yeah.
Great.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it.
Missy Rentz (00:36):
So this is something that is super
important to me and to many ofus that work and love our public
lands.
But just quickly, we did anepisode last week, but just so
people understand, what is theroadless rule?
Brian Bird (00:51):
Okay.
In a nutshell, the roadless ruleis a, it's a rule that has been
established to designate areasthat don't have roads.
To basically prevent roads frombeing built there.
That's a very brief synopsis ofwhat the road roadless rule on
federal lands federal nationalforest.
Missy Rentz (01:13):
Why is it important to have the rule?
Brian Bird (01:16):
There's many reasons on why it's good to have this
rule.
I'll hit a few highlights hereand then we can dive in more if
you want.
Number.
I'm gonna say habitat.
There is tons of research outthere saying that undivided un
intact, continuous connectedhabitat is of utmost importance
(01:39):
for for wildlife all wildlife,not just game species.
Also it a lot of these areasthat have been deemed rollis is
because they're sensitive tothings like erosion.
So if we do go in there andcreate roads, it's gonna cause
problems with erosion.
And then also just part of it'sto protect from commercial
logging.
That's part of it as well.
But essentially it's theroadless rule is there to
(02:01):
prevent roads in areas where wecan, protect, habitat, wildlife,
ecosystems, all the above.
Missy Rentz (02:10):
And I think my understanding is that because
there are no roads, it preventsany sort of development, which
is the ripple effect of theprotection.
Brian Bird (02:20):
Yes.
There could be, there, therecould be roads on there, but
there's not, they're notmaintained roads.
And it and there's, it's such a,it's almost 200 million acres,
so to.
Paint a brush on.
There's no roads, or there aresome roads I, we gotta when I
say there are some roads,they're not maintained if you're
in a road, this area, you maycome across something that has
(02:41):
been there in the past, but it'snot maintained.
And it, and there's no new road,no, no new roads.
Missy Rentz (02:47):
And one of the things that I have read is that
the reason they want to rescindthis rule is so that they can
help with like fire preventionand stuff, but the rule allows
for that.
The rule allows flexibility forprotecting those public lands.
Brian Bird (03:04):
True.
Yes.
And there we have you may havealso heard that the idea of
having roads for fire,prevention or to, put fires out
is a fallacy in that like mostof the fires are created by
humans within, and I don't knowthe number.
(03:24):
I can look it up certaindistance away from a road
already.
So creating roads is actuallygoing to cause fires and not
necessarily help put them out.
Missy Rentz (03:35):
Yeah.
The other thing I findinteresting is that it feels
like they're, they being, ourcurrent administration is really
trying to politicize, red versusblue.
This, and when it comes to ourpublic lands, it is not red and
blue.
We are united on that.
Brian Bird (03:54):
Yeah I don't know if you're gonna put the video up,
but everybody's a, I've got myshirt on.
Everybody's a public landowner,like everybody in the country
owns this land.
It's their land.
It's it doesn't matter who youare or where you're from.
This is all of our land.
Missy Rentz (04:07):
Yeah.
And I think, the other thing Ifind interesting is oftentimes
we.
I think that public lands isjust meant for recreation and
conservation.
But the other thing is, likewhat I'm learning in parks is
how much is done, to protectseashore so that houses aren't
washed away and, mudslidesaren't taking place.
It's a much bigger issue itprotecting us than people think.
(04:28):
This isn't just for recreation.
Brian Bird (04:30):
Yeah.
Recreation is great, but
Missy Rentz (04:32):
favorite part of it.
Brian Bird (04:33):
totally but yeah, you're right.
There's, I would say especiallywith the role of this rule, it
was, it's'cause we have areasthat are, wilderness areas.
And I say capital W we havedesignated areas that like
there's.
Areas where we're not evenallowed to use gas engines like
a chainsaw.
You can't use a chainsaw.
And so this was an in additionto some of those areas where
(04:55):
we're like, Hey, you know what?
This is not necessarily adesignated wilderness area, but
it needs to be protected, and solet's just not have any roads in
there.
Missy Rentz (05:03):
Okay.
So you are with backcountryhunters and anglers.
So specifically to the missionthat you serve in the
organization, how.
How will rescinding this impactyou and all the hunters and
fishermen out there?
Brian Bird (05:22):
Part of what we do and what we're about is a pretty
multifaceted affair.
And so one of it, so althoughhunting and angling is in our
name we're our conservationorganization.
So we are as passionate aboutthe conservation as we are about
hunting and angling.
So if I were to ask any of ourmembers about.
(05:43):
Back country and wood is backcountry.
Backcountry is first of all,something that you need to work
to get to.
You need to walk there, you needto pack in, you need to hike.
There's areas out west where, wemight use horses or llamas to
get back there but you wanna getto a spot where it appears as if
it's been untouched since thedawn of time to be out there in
(06:04):
that environment.
Chasing quarry is like one thingthat we are really passionate
about.
So we, there's, and again, ourorganization is very
diversified.
There are some folks who don'tgo very far in and there's some
that aren't happy until they'resix miles, eight miles, 12 miles
back into the back country.
(06:25):
Away from everything.
And so one thing the Roadlessrule does for us and for
everybody is that there areareas of land where I'm not
gonna hear a four wheeler or aside by side buzz through there
or hear a motorcycle.
It's just, us.
Nature.
And we use that term all thetime.
(06:46):
I think it's a little it meansso much for so many people, but
for me, if I'm gonna be, in aroad, this area, I'm there and
I'm, and I, I'm not going to belistening to traffic or even
somebody, buzz by on a, dirtbike or something like that.
(07:06):
To expand on that a little bit,you know the other thing too,
with the roadless rule and partof the draw for people to be
back there, hunters included, isyou are now in a spot where it
is, what I would say is like anatural setting where I'm not
taking an easy route by walkingon a road.
(07:27):
I do that all the time,actually.
If there is a log road, I'mgonna take the log road.
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna,bush whack.
But it's a whole differentexperience of those two.
Where I live in New York I'mvery close to the Adirondack
Park, largest state park in thecountry.
It's not a national park, it's astate park, but we have
designated wilderness areaswhere there is.
(07:48):
There's, nothing.
There's no roads.
You park and you hike in.
There might be a hiking trail,but to get back in and off of
those spots, it's different thanif you're in a spot that, that
has, even if it's an oldabandoned log road it's a
different feel.
Missy Rentz (08:03):
Yeah, it's very peaceful.
I have to imagine.
Brian Bird (08:06):
Yeah.
For.
Missy Rentz (08:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then also the harm to, thefish and the, what you're out
there for your recreation.
If there's more development inthose areas could over time
really harm the recreationitself.
Brian Bird (08:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
If we pull the aesthetics awayof being out in the middle of,
nowhere, there's a fair numberof ecological issues that we can
worry about whether we talkabout fish, many of these areas
are high up.
They're on steep slopes.
They're areas that if you wereto go in and develop, and when I
say develop, I'm not talkingabout necessarily putting houses
on, I'm talking about building aroad.
Just the act of bulldozing aroad in you're gonna set up
(08:44):
scenarios where you could causemore sediment or more runoff.
That would change the dynamicsof the stream that it's going
to.
So you're gonna put moresediment in there.
We know sediment coming into astream is going to affect
everything from clarity of thewater to even spawning grounds
for fish.
That it's gonna change thatwe've went through this in the
(09:05):
past.
Many of these areas at one timewere completely logged off.
Completely deed, this, thecreeks that were there were
totally changed.
And so that, that's part of it.
Another part of it too is, andone thing that we are, parallel
with is the connected corridors.
And so fish are a great exampleand there's areas where, you
(09:26):
know.
built a road and they put aculvert.
It's basically a pipe.
Let's say it's 1824 inches indiameter.
They put a pipe in the road sothat the water on one side of
the road can flow under the roadto the other side.
Those in general, are really notgood for that stream ecology
because many times what you'llsee is the stuff below the
(09:49):
stream can't get through thatculvert.
And go above stream so that youcan actually separate a stream
biologically, ecologically,simply because now there's this
18 inch galvanized steel pipethat, that interrupts that
stream.
So there's stuff like that aswell.
We have to think about.
Missy Rentz (10:08):
And so for this, they so they.
Announced that they wererescinding the rule, and then
now there's a open publiccomment period until tomorrow,
Brian Bird (10:18):
Tomorrow.
Missy Rentz (10:19):
September 19th.
And what does that publiccomment period do?
Brian Bird (10:24):
A little.
Quick, history here.
So when this first came out in2001, when it came out, they had
another public comment period,and there was also, they also
had 600 local meetings of this.
They had 1.6 million publiccomments, 95% of which were in
support of this.
Roadless rule.
Common theory now is to letbasically those in power know
(10:49):
your feelings on what you thinkabout this roadless rule.
BHA has, we have a take actionpage where folks can come in and
when you put your address in, itautomatically knows who your
reps are.
You can modify what we're gonnasend, but you hit send and it's
gonna send a message to our the,it's gonna send a message to our
(11:10):
legislators about, your thoughtson rescinding the roadless rule.
Missy Rentz (11:15):
We'll put a link to that on this episode page and
also on all of our social media.
We'll link to it as well so thatpeople can, we get, we're
driving more traffic there.
But I think the key is that thisis urgent and we have you.
Know this is, it's September18th now.
We have 24 hours a little bitmore than that to get this done.
And I think we, along witheverybody else that is
(11:37):
advocating for it, reallyencourage people to just take
the, what's it take, Brian, likea minute to go on your website
and hit submit.
Brian Bird (11:45):
I struggle with typing on a keyboard, so it
might take me two minutes,
Missy Rentz (11:48):
Okay.
Okay.
But a
Brian Bird (11:51):
but it, yeah, it's very quick.
It's very easily you can alsocall, there's a, the phone
number and it's.
It's just one thing that I tryto get across to folks from my
line of work is it is so easy toconnect with, call, talk with
your legislators.
It seems as if they're like inthis place that they don't, it's
hard to get to.
It's really easy.
This email is like the easiestthing as possible, but there's
(12:14):
also a phone call.
You can make a phone call andyou'd be surprised.
You'd be surprised how oftenyou're generally gonna get a
staffer, but that staffer'sgonna sit there and listen to
you and talk
Missy Rentz (12:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think, and what'sdifferent,'cause we talk about
call your legislators, but thisone is also submitting a letter
to the Department ofAgriculture.
So it's, it, this one is alittle different than what we
heard all summer.
But super urgent.
And we need people to take thetime and do it.
Brian Bird (12:36):
Yeah.
Yep.
I'll also share with you a link.
We have BHA has that shows.
It's a map and it has a slider,and it shows the before and
after if we rescind the ruleversus what current road this
looks like right now.
And it's pretty graphic as youcan see, as you go across and,
and let, I let folks know that.
(12:58):
There's this roadless ruleaffects the entire country.
There are a whole suite ofnational forests in the east.
I'm in New York, I'm not farfrom Vermont.
So we've got the GreenMountains, we've got the White
Mountains.
I, chapter coordinator wise Icover most of the Northeast and
come down to the easternseaboard a little bit.
One of my chapters is NorthCarolina.
North Carolina has nationalforest.
That's, that has roadless rules.
(13:20):
West Virginia has it.
Georgia has some, Tennessee hassome, this is not a just a
Western issue.
This is everywhere.
Missy Rentz (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
The big urgent message is go tothe links that.
Both of our organizations aresharing, submit the letter, do
it today or tomorrow.
And then also, I think this iskey share, share this episode,
share our social posts.
Because that builds urgency whenyour friends and your family see
(13:49):
the link.
And I think now it's also anawareness.
So that people understand what'sgoing on.
The roadless rule doesn't saywe're stealing public land, but
ultimately that's what it willbe doing is altering our access
to public land.
Brian Bird (14:02):
It will definitely change our access.
Missy Rentz (14:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian, thanks for taking a fewminutes to talk to me.
I look forward to talking to youabout your organization and
future episodes, but I reallyappreciate the conversation.
Brian Bird (14:13):
For sure.
Thank you.
Appreciate being here.
Missy Rentz (14:16):
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, we'll see youin the parks.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please be sure to like and share
on your favorite podcastplatform.
Music for the parks podcast isperformed and produced by Porter
Hardy.
For more information, pleasefollow us on Instagram at the
parks podcast.
(14:36):
Or visit ourwebsite@theparkspodcast.com.
At a time when our public landsare under attack, we get curious
asking questions of those whoare close to the topic.
Join me as we talk about theRoadless rule and why it
matters.
I'm your host, Missy Rents, andthis is the Parks podcast.
Missy Rentz (00:19):
In today's quick episode, I'm talking to Brian
Bird.
Brian is the chapter coordinatorfor Backcountry Hunters and
Anglers, and Brian was kindenough to join me to talk about
the Roadless rule.
Brian, welcome to the Parkspodcast.
Brian Bird (00:34):
Yeah.
Great.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it.
Missy Rentz (00:36):
So this is something that is super
important to me and to many ofus that work and love our public
lands.
But just quickly, we did anepisode last week, but just so
people understand, what is theroadless rule?
Brian Bird (00:51):
Okay.
In a nutshell, the roadless ruleis a, it's a rule that has been
established to designate areasthat don't have roads.
To basically prevent roads frombeing built there.
That's a very brief synopsis ofwhat the road roadless rule on
federal lands federal nationalforest.
Missy Rentz (01:13):
Why is it important to have the rule?
Brian Bird (01:16):
There's many reasons on why it's good to have this
rule.
I'll hit a few highlights hereand then we can dive in more if
you want.
Number.
I'm gonna say habitat.
There is tons of research outthere saying that undivided un
intact, continuous connectedhabitat is of utmost importance
(01:39):
for for wildlife all wildlife,not just game species.
Also it a lot of these areasthat have been deemed rollis is
because they're sensitive tothings like erosion.
So if we do go in there andcreate roads, it's gonna cause
problems with erosion.
And then also just part of it'sto protect from commercial
logging.
That's part of it as well.
But essentially it's theroadless rule is there to
(02:01):
prevent roads in areas where wecan, protect, habitat, wildlife,
ecosystems, all the above.
Missy Rentz (02:10):
And I think my understanding is that because
there are no roads, it preventsany sort of development, which
is the ripple effect of theprotection.
Brian Bird (02:20):
Yes.
There could be, there, therecould be roads on there, but
there's not, they're notmaintained roads.
And it and there's, it's such a,it's almost 200 million acres,
so to.
Paint a brush on.
There's no roads, or there aresome roads I, we gotta when I
say there are some roads,they're not maintained if you're
in a road, this area, you maycome across something that has
(02:41):
been there in the past, but it'snot maintained.
And it, and there's no new road,no, no new roads.
Missy Rentz (02:47):
And one of the things that I have read is that
the reason they want to rescindthis rule is so that they can
help with like fire preventionand stuff, but the rule allows
for that.
The rule allows flexibility forprotecting those public lands.
Brian Bird (03:04):
True.
Yes.
And there we have you may havealso heard that the idea of
having roads for fire,prevention or to, put fires out
is a fallacy in that like mostof the fires are created by
humans within, and I don't knowthe number.
(03:24):
I can look it up certaindistance away from a road
already.
So creating roads is actuallygoing to cause fires and not
necessarily help put them out.
Missy Rentz (03:35):
Yeah.
The other thing I findinteresting is that it feels
like they're, they being, ourcurrent administration is really
trying to politicize, red versusblue.
This, and when it comes to ourpublic lands, it is not red and
blue.
We are united on that.
Brian Bird (03:54):
Yeah I don't know if you're gonna put the video up,
but everybody's a, I've got myshirt on.
Everybody's a public landowner,like everybody in the country
owns this land.
It's their land.
It's it doesn't matter who youare or where you're from.
This is all of our land.
Missy Rentz (04:07):
Yeah.
And I think, the other thing Ifind interesting is oftentimes
we.
I think that public lands isjust meant for recreation and
conservation.
But the other thing is, likewhat I'm learning in parks is
how much is done, to protectseashore so that houses aren't
washed away and, mudslidesaren't taking place.
It's a much bigger issue itprotecting us than people think.
(04:28):
This isn't just for recreation.
Brian Bird (04:30):
Yeah.
Recreation is great, but
Missy Rentz (04:32):
favorite part of it.
Brian Bird (04:33):
totally but yeah, you're right.
There's, I would say especiallywith the role of this rule, it
was, it's'cause we have areasthat are, wilderness areas.
And I say capital W we havedesignated areas that like
there's.
Areas where we're not evenallowed to use gas engines like
a chainsaw.
You can't use a chainsaw.
And so this was an in additionto some of those areas where
(04:55):
we're like, Hey, you know what?
This is not necessarily adesignated wilderness area, but
it needs to be protected, and solet's just not have any roads in
there.
Missy Rentz (05:03):
Okay.
So you are with backcountryhunters and anglers.
So specifically to the missionthat you serve in the
organization, how.
How will rescinding this impactyou and all the hunters and
fishermen out there?
Brian Bird (05:22):
Part of what we do and what we're about is a pretty
multifaceted affair.
And so one of it, so althoughhunting and angling is in our
name we're our conservationorganization.
So we are as passionate aboutthe conservation as we are about
hunting and angling.
So if I were to ask any of ourmembers about.
(05:43):
Back country and wood is backcountry.
Backcountry is first of all,something that you need to work
to get to.
You need to walk there, you needto pack in, you need to hike.
There's areas out west where, wemight use horses or llamas to
get back there but you wanna getto a spot where it appears as if
it's been untouched since thedawn of time to be out there in
(06:04):
that environment.
Chasing quarry is like one thingthat we are really passionate
about.
So we, there's, and again, ourorganization is very
diversified.
There are some folks who don'tgo very far in and there's some
that aren't happy until they'resix miles, eight miles, 12 miles
back into the back country.
(06:25):
Away from everything.
And so one thing the Roadlessrule does for us and for
everybody is that there areareas of land where I'm not
gonna hear a four wheeler or aside by side buzz through there
or hear a motorcycle.
It's just, us.
Nature.
And we use that term all thetime.
(06:46):
I think it's a little it meansso much for so many people, but
for me, if I'm gonna be, in aroad, this area, I'm there and
I'm, and I, I'm not going to belistening to traffic or even
somebody, buzz by on a, dirtbike or something like that.
(07:06):
To expand on that a little bit,you know the other thing too,
with the roadless rule and partof the draw for people to be
back there, hunters included, isyou are now in a spot where it
is, what I would say is like anatural setting where I'm not
taking an easy route by walkingon a road.
(07:27):
I do that all the time,actually.
If there is a log road, I'mgonna take the log road.
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna,bush whack.
But it's a whole differentexperience of those two.
Where I live in New York I'mvery close to the Adirondack
Park, largest state park in thecountry.
It's not a national park, it's astate park, but we have
designated wilderness areaswhere there is.
(07:48):
There's, nothing.
There's no roads.
You park and you hike in.
There might be a hiking trail,but to get back in and off of
those spots, it's different thanif you're in a spot that, that
has, even if it's an oldabandoned log road it's a
different feel.
Missy Rentz (08:03):
Yeah, it's very peaceful.
I have to imagine.
Brian Bird (08:06):
Yeah.
For.
Missy Rentz (08:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then also the harm to, thefish and the, what you're out
there for your recreation.
If there's more development inthose areas could over time
really harm the recreationitself.
Brian Bird (08:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
If we pull the aesthetics awayof being out in the middle of,
nowhere, there's a fair numberof ecological issues that we can
worry about whether we talkabout fish, many of these areas
are high up.
They're on steep slopes.
They're areas that if you wereto go in and develop, and when I
say develop, I'm not talkingabout necessarily putting houses
on, I'm talking about building aroad.
Just the act of bulldozing aroad in you're gonna set up
(08:44):
scenarios where you could causemore sediment or more runoff.
That would change the dynamicsof the stream that it's going
to.
So you're gonna put moresediment in there.
We know sediment coming into astream is going to affect
everything from clarity of thewater to even spawning grounds
for fish.
That it's gonna change thatwe've went through this in the
(09:05):
past.
Many of these areas at one timewere completely logged off.
Completely deed, this, thecreeks that were there were
totally changed.
And so that, that's part of it.
Another part of it too is, andone thing that we are, parallel
with is the connected corridors.
And so fish are a great exampleand there's areas where, you
(09:26):
know.
built a road and they put aculvert.
It's basically a pipe.
Let's say it's 1824 inches indiameter.
They put a pipe in the road sothat the water on one side of
the road can flow under the roadto the other side.
Those in general, are really notgood for that stream ecology
because many times what you'llsee is the stuff below the
(09:49):
stream can't get through thatculvert.
And go above stream so that youcan actually separate a stream
biologically, ecologically,simply because now there's this
18 inch galvanized steel pipethat, that interrupts that
stream.
So there's stuff like that aswell.
We have to think about.
Missy Rentz (10:08):
And so for this, they so they.
Announced that they wererescinding the rule, and then
now there's a open publiccomment period until tomorrow,
Brian Bird (10:18):
Tomorrow.
Missy Rentz (10:19):
September 19th.
And what does that publiccomment period do?
Brian Bird (10:24):
A little.
Quick, history here.
So when this first came out in2001, when it came out, they had
another public comment period,and there was also, they also
had 600 local meetings of this.
They had 1.6 million publiccomments, 95% of which were in
support of this.
Roadless rule.
Common theory now is to letbasically those in power know
(10:49):
your feelings on what you thinkabout this roadless rule.
BHA has, we have a take actionpage where folks can come in and
when you put your address in, itautomatically knows who your
reps are.
You can modify what we're gonnasend, but you hit send and it's
gonna send a message to our the,it's gonna send a message to our
(11:10):
legislators about, your thoughtson rescinding the roadless rule.
Missy Rentz (11:15):
We'll put a link to that on this episode page and
also on all of our social media.
We'll link to it as well so thatpeople can, we get, we're
driving more traffic there.
But I think the key is that thisis urgent and we have you.
Know this is, it's September18th now.
We have 24 hours a little bitmore than that to get this done.
And I think we, along witheverybody else that is
(11:37):
advocating for it, reallyencourage people to just take
the, what's it take, Brian, likea minute to go on your website
and hit submit.
Brian Bird (11:45):
I struggle with typing on a keyboard, so it
might take me two minutes,
Missy Rentz (11:48):
Okay.
Okay.
But a
Brian Bird (11:51):
but it, yeah, it's very quick.
It's very easily you can alsocall, there's a, the phone
number and it's.
It's just one thing that I tryto get across to folks from my
line of work is it is so easy toconnect with, call, talk with
your legislators.
It seems as if they're like inthis place that they don't, it's
hard to get to.
It's really easy.
This email is like the easiestthing as possible, but there's
(12:14):
also a phone call.
You can make a phone call andyou'd be surprised.
You'd be surprised how oftenyou're generally gonna get a
staffer, but that staffer'sgonna sit there and listen to
you and talk
Missy Rentz (12:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think, and what'sdifferent,'cause we talk about
call your legislators, but thisone is also submitting a letter
to the Department ofAgriculture.
So it's, it, this one is alittle different than what we
heard all summer.
But super urgent.
And we need people to take thetime and do it.
Brian Bird (12:36):
Yeah.
Yep.
I'll also share with you a link.
We have BHA has that shows.
It's a map and it has a slider,and it shows the before and
after if we rescind the ruleversus what current road this
looks like right now.
And it's pretty graphic as youcan see, as you go across and,
and let, I let folks know that.
(12:58):
There's this roadless ruleaffects the entire country.
There are a whole suite ofnational forests in the east.
I'm in New York, I'm not farfrom Vermont.
So we've got the GreenMountains, we've got the White
Mountains.
I, chapter coordinator wise Icover most of the Northeast and
come down to the easternseaboard a little bit.
One of my chapters is NorthCarolina.
North Carolina has nationalforest.
That's, that has roadless rules.
(13:20):
West Virginia has it.
Georgia has some, Tennessee hassome, this is not a just a
Western issue.
This is everywhere.
Missy Rentz (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
The big urgent message is go tothe links that.
Both of our organizations aresharing, submit the letter, do
it today or tomorrow.
And then also, I think this iskey share, share this episode,
share our social posts.
Because that builds urgency whenyour friends and your family see
(13:49):
the link.
And I think now it's also anawareness.
So that people understand what'sgoing on.
The roadless rule doesn't saywe're stealing public land, but
ultimately that's what it willbe doing is altering our access
to public land.
Brian Bird (14:02):
It will definitely change our access.
Missy Rentz (14:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian, thanks for taking a fewminutes to talk to me.
I look forward to talking to youabout your organization and
future episodes, but I reallyappreciate the conversation.
Brian Bird (14:13):
For sure.
Thank you.
Appreciate being here.
Missy Rentz (14:16):
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, we'll see youin the parks.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please be sure to like and share
on your favorite podcastplatform.
Music for the parks podcast isperformed and produced by Porter
Hardy.
For more information, pleasefollow us on Instagram at the
parks podcast.
(14:36):
Or visit ourwebsite@theparkspodcast.com.
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