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TRCP Roadless Initiative Principles

Principles of Roadless Backcountry That Are Important to Sportsmen

The TRCP is working to conserve the values of public land roadless areas important to sportsmen, including the exceptional backcountry fish and wildlife habitat that provides some of our highest-quality hunting and fishing opportunities. The TRCP supports the multiple-use approach to management of America’s public lands, which can be achieved by sustaining important habitat and supporting opportunities for outdoor recreation in backcountry areas.  

Secure habitat for big-game animals
Roadless areas provide large blocks of exceptional habitat for big-game animals such as mule deer, elk, moose, bears, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. While some roads are important for enabling sportsmen’s access to the lands where they hunt and fish, too many roads have been proven to decrease secure habitat while increasing species’ vulnerability to overharvest. Fewer mature animals can be the result and can lead to diminished hunting opportunities, shorter seasons and fewer available tags.

Productive waters for trout, steelhead and salmon
Roadless areas offer intact waterways where trout, steelhead and salmon – dependent on clean water, stable streamflows and consistent lake levels – can thrive. Backcountry areas also are strongholds for some of the last remaining native fish populations, providing unrivaled opportunities for anglers to fish for native trout such as Westslope cutthroat, Rio Grande cutthroat, Bonneville cutthroat and redband rainbow trout. Too many roads can increase sediment loads in waterways and lower the quality of spawning habitat, decreasing the likelihood that these native trout can be sustained. 

Opportunities for solitude in primitive and semi-primitive settings
As identified by the U.S. Forest Service, roadless areas offer unique “primitive” and “semi-primitive” recreation opportunities where sportsmen can escape the noise and commotion of urbanized society. These areas are important not only to sportsmen who hunt and fish deep in the backcountry. Easy access to many backcountry areas via adjacent roads and trailheads enables high-quality hunting and fishing even to sportsmen who stay close to their vehicles.
 
Contributors to strong and diverse economies
Fishing and hunting annually contribute more than $190 billion to our nation’s economy. Conscientious backcountry management can maintain strong economic engines in rural communities and continue to supply stable jobs associated with hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. Businesses that provide services and products to sportsmen – everything from guide and outfitter services to sporting goods stores, motels, grocery stores and gas stations – are the lifeblood of many small towns. These businesses depend on responsible backcountry management.

Barriers against the spread of noxious weeds
Invasive weeds such as spotted knapweed, yellow starthistle and cheatgrass thrive in disturbed habitats containing roads and can choke out native vegetation, altering water runoff and historic fire frequencies. Non-native plants can increase erosion and sediment loading into waterways while reducing the amount of food and available cover for wildlife. Roadless areas are bastions for native flora, and these lands exhibit significantly fewer problems with invasive weeds compared to roaded areas. Conserving backcountry values helps maintain native plant structures and high-quality fish and wildlife habitat and, indirectly, benefits sportsmen and public-lands hunting and fishing opportunities.    

Reference landscapes
Landscapes of relatively undisturbed areas, such as roadless backcountry, serve as a barometer for scientists when measuring the effects of development on other areas. Many roadless areas look much as they did when Lewis and Clark first crossed the Great Divide more than 200 years ago. The backcountry’s largely natural state provides baseline data to help land managers maintain and restore our roaded public lands to maximize their benefit to fish and wildlife and the public.