Protecting the Wild Places

An opinion column on why protecting roadless wild areas is good for Oregon businesses. Patrick Kruse is the founder and CEO of RuffWear, based in Bend, OR.

One of the many benefits to living in Central Oregon is that after a hard day's work, I can hop on my mountain bike, ride past desert juniper, look toward the frosted peaks of Three Sisters and enjoy the area's natural beauty.

My employees can do the same, and as a business owner I know that Central Oregon's spectacular mountains, outstanding public lands and great fishing are some of the most enticing benefits I can offer my employees. Oregon's quality of life in general - from Mount Hood to the coast to Hells Canyon - helps me attract top-notch employees.

President Teddy Roosevelt understood the connection between outstanding natural areas and quality of life, and a century ago he laid the framework to protect the places that today make Oregon such a special place to live and work.

Back in the early 1900s, Roosevelt set aside some of the nation's most spectacular wild lands, creating a public reserve 230 million acres strong. Roosevelt's legacy includes 150 National Forests, numerous wildlife and game reserves, and Crater Lake, the first of five national parks he protected.

But a lot has changed since Teddy's time. Out of all the public land Roosevelt set aside, only a dwindling fraction remains in its traditional state: wild and pristine.

Just last year, the Bush administration soiled Teddy Roosevelt's vision by reversing the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protected some of the last remaining wild and pristine public lands. Those lands, called "roadless areas," account for 58.5 million acres of unspoiled areas in our national forests, including 2 million acres here in Oregon.

With more than half of our national forests already under development, the roadless rule provided a common-sense vision to restore balance, while being flexible enough to allow for fire fighting and conservation thinning. But now, these last remaining pristine lands are open to reckless development.

Here in Oregon, roadless areas are more than just spots on a map. Most Oregonians know our national forest roadless areas as the unspoiled public lands where they love to hike, camp, mountain bike, hunt and fish. But some may be surprised to learn that roadless forests also provide hundreds of thousands of Oregonians with clean and reliable drinking water. Bend, for example, receives a good percentage of its drinking water from a roadless forest just a few miles west of town.

Protecting public lands, and roadless areas in particular, can also add to our economy through recreation and tourism. Just last week, the Outdoor Industry Foundation released a report documenting that outdoor recreation adds a staggering $730 billion to the U.S. economy annually, supports 6.5 million jobs across the country and generates $88 billion a year in state and federal taxes.

The report also mentions that more than three-fourths of Americans participate in outdoor recreation each year, and more Americans camp than play basketball - interesting statistics indeed!

As a business owner, I know that public lands are critically important to the outdoor recreation industry. National forest roadless areas are among some of the most pristine, unspoiled and scenic public lands remaining, and I know that they are important to my customers and therefore the health of my business. Simply put, if people don't have pristine public lands to visit and enjoy, they'll spend less money on outdoor gear, travel, guides, lodging and other related goods and services that are not only important to my business, but Oregon's economy as a whole.

Thankfully, I'm not the only business concerned about protecting pristine public lands. Over the last few years, hundreds of businesses have spoken out in favor of keeping roadless areas protected, including Oregon employers like Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Salomon and my business, Ruff Wear.

Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt's vision, we have an amazing system of public wildlands that support thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. But our natural heritage and the businesses that rely on it could irreparably suffer without the right protections.

As the future of our roadless public lands remain uncertain, I can't help but wonder what may happen to the roadless wildlands around Newberry Crater, Lookout Mountain or even Bachelor Butte where I hike with Otis, my Australian cattle dog. Will future generations have the same opportunity to explore Oregon's treasures as I do now, or will these pristine roadless lands be lost forever?

Just as Teddy Roosevelt acted in 1905 to protect Crater Lake, we must act now to protect our remaining roadless wild lands.

Patrick Kruse

Bend