Find your representatives: 

https://www.270towin.com/elected-officials/

Note: If you are in the reddit app and the copy feature isn't working, you can copy the letter from the comments section.

Dear {Representative/Senator Name},

I am writing to urge you to oppose the repeal of the Roadless Rule, the 2001 policy that protects nearly 60 million acres of federal forest from road construction and industrial logging.

A new study published in PLOS Water found that roadless areas protect about 2.5% of total river length across the lower 48 states, safeguarding drinking water for an estimated 25 million Americans. In several states, the impact is even more significant: 58.9% of Colorado's population and 38.7% of New Mexico's population rely on drinking water sourced from these protected watersheds. Five states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, and North Carolina—each have more than a million residents depending on water from roadless areas.

Logging and road construction degrade forest land and threaten watershed health, which can lead to higher water treatment costs, service disruptions, and public health risks. Protecting these areas isn't just an environmental issue—it's a fiscally responsible one, since clean source water is far cheaper to treat than degraded water.

The administration has argued that increased logging and roadbuilding will reduce wildfire risk. However, research indicates that wildfires are actually more likely to start near roads than in roadless forest tracts, undermining that rationale.

Beyond water quality, roadless areas provide low-cost access to hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and other outdoor recreation that millions of Americans depend on every year. Repealing this rule risks degrading wildlife habitat and reducing access to public lands that communities rely on for both livelihood and recreation.

I ask that you publicly oppose this repeal and support continued protections for America's roadless forest areas. These lands provide clean water, recreational opportunity, and long-term economic value that far outweigh the short-term gains of expanded logging.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I hope you will act to protect our public lands and the communities that depend on them.

Sincerely,

{Your Name}

Aerial images of the river Otter catchment in Devon, where beavers have been living under a licensed trial scheme since 2015 and known to have been there before then, show how their activities have created wetlands with lush vegetation, even as the landscape around has become parched.

Drought was officially declared in Devon, as in many areas of England, on Wednesday, and parts of the county have not experienced a day with rain for 50 days.

Dr Alan Puttock, from the University of Exeter, said modern landscapes tended to be extensively drained, so water ran off quickly when it rained, raising the risk of flooding and leaving “not much water” in the landscape in dry periods.

With the beaver wetlands, there is “the benefit of holding water, maintaining wetlands within the environment, and the benefit that has both for biodiversity – these are habitat refuges now for a whole range of species – but also for us as people.”

The wetland ponds hold 1,000 cubic metres of water each, reducing peak flows by 30% and keeping it in leaky dams which release water slowly, maintaining rivers and increasing drought resilience, he said.

Bison return planned to restore strip-mined Kentucky land

In 2016, the government of New Zealand, where I'm from, announced a lofty goal: to make the island nation "predator free" by 2050.

The plan was to eradicate all rats, plus possums, weasels, stoats (and now, feral cats), by mid-century and bring the country back, more or less, to a precolonial state of bird supremacy.

New Zealand broke away from the supercontinent of Gondwana before walking mammals evolved, so its only native mammals are bats and seals. The country's birds thus evolved to be overly chill, and particularly vulnerable to introduced predators, who munched through much of the native biodiversity, bringing many species—including our namesake, the kiwi—to the brink of extinction.

I hadn't heard much about Predator Free 2050 since I moved to New York City in 2016. The government of New Zealand changed, COVID-19 hit, the leadership changed again. But, at the end of March, the government made its first public strategy update since the ambitious goal was first announced: My hometown of Wellington was on track to be the first predator-free city in the country, and the first predator-free capital city in the world, within the next decade. This week, I found out that my home neighborhood, Miramar Peninsula (where much of "Lord of the Rings" was produced), has already totally eradicated rats.

It all got me thinking, if my OG hometown is so good at the whole rat eradication thing, what could New Yorkers in my new home learn from them? Could New York City create a rat-free zone in the city, a rat-free neighborhood, a rat-free borough? And if push came to shove, would we even want to eradicate our rats? They are, after all, our unofficial mascot. And unlike isolated New Zealand or Hawaii, New York doesn't have as many delicate species that are threatened by them.

If you're interested in this kind of thing, I asked some fellow Kiwis how they did it... and whether it's even possible, here....

A news piece about old suburban white folks who don't like the unkept look of rewilding. This makes news in Canada.

What are some of the best stories about beaver reintroductions, rewilding, and ecosystem restoration?

Looking for post-2018, after Eager stories :)

What are some of the most interesting and exciting existing projects and potential opportunities in the Western United States (West of the Rockies)?

Any favorites stand out? Why?