The U.S. Department of Agriculture just proposed tearing up the strongest protection our national forests have ever had. Under this proposal, road crews and logging companies could move into nearly 45 million acres of forest that have remained wild and undeveloped across 37 states, and once those roads go in, this habitat won't come back.

These forests aren't just scenery. They're one of the last real refuges for grizzly bears raising cubs, Canada lynx hunting through deep snow, wolverines denning in high country, and northern spotted owls nesting in trees centuries old. Alaska's Tongass National Forest depends on this same protection to keep its salmon streams healthy and its ancient Sitka spruce standing instead of being cut down and shipped overseas. In the Southeast, roadless forests shelter the Appalachian Trail, endangered flying squirrels, and the country's strongest known population of hellbenders.

This isn't only about wildlife. National forests supply drinking water for over 60 million Americans across 33 states, and keeping roads out is part of what keeps that water clean, since roads erode and wash sediment into rivers and streams. Fewer roads also means fewer fires: a long-term nationwide study found that human-started wildfires happen roughly four times more often near roads than in roadless forests.

"These are some of the last truly wild forests left in the country, places that shelter endangered wildlife and protect our drinking water," according to Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The public only has until September 21 to weigh in before the Trump administration finalizes this decision. Sign this petition to demand the USDA withdraw its proposal and keep the Roadless Rule in place before these forests are lost for good.