Road Repairs and Removal Create Jobs and Make Economic Sense
Investment in the repair and removal of the worst roads makes great economic sense. Over the next decade, such a program would save taxpayers millions in today's dollars in reduced maintenance costs alone for federal and state forest roads. A selective program of road removal, accompanied by remediation of roads that remain in place would also provide good jobs for heavy equipment operators and other forest workers.
Roads threaten freshwater ecosystems in many ways and in nearly
every corner of the North American landscape. Investment in the repair
and removal of the worst roads makes great economic sense. Over the
next decade, such a program would save taxpayers millions in today's
dollars in reduced maintenance costs alone for federal and state forest
roads. This is to say nothing of the vast and permanent environmental
benefit to water quality, fisheries and wildlife.
A selective program of road removal, accompanied by remediation of
roads that remain in place, would promote ecological and economic
values, provide good jobs for heavy equipment operators and other
forest workers, and can be pursued without compromising national forest
access. The longer we wait to fix this problem, the more economic and ecological damage roads will cause.
Read our oped with the Wilderness Society on this subject.
Watch a news story about new green jobs working to restore rivers by removing roads.
The stimulus package recently signed by the President directs millions of dollars towards road-related watershed restoration. This money will not only help protect watersheds but also provide highly skilled jobs. Read more about the stimulus package.
Read an oped, coauthored by Policy Director Mary Scurlock, about the benefits of creating a Forest Watershed Restoration Corps within the U.S. Forest Service as part of Obama's economic stimulus package.
Learn more about our proposal to create jobs and restore watersheds after the Biscuit Fire. This plan would have created roughly 400 jobs through road repair and decommissioning.
