While some roads are necessary for moving about the backcountry, too many roads cause problems and degrade habitat. The proposed rule will not close any roads but will safeguard important habitat that has never had roads.

• A  1991 study found that in highly roaded areas, bull to cow ratios ( a key measure used to determine herd health) were less than 10 bulls per 100 cows and that simply closing the same roads raised the ratio to 20 bulls per 100 cows. The study also noted a bull to cow ratio of 34.5 bulls to 100 cows in roadless areas.
• Research has found that two miles of roads per square mile leads to a 50% reduction in elk populations, while six miles of roads per square mile eradicates virtually all elk in that area.
• A USFS study in 2000 reported that roads negatively affected more than 65 animal species through habitat loss, fragmentation, collision, over-hunting, poaching, migration barriers, displacement and avoidance, and chronic negative interaction with people.
• Colorado’s National Forests  have over 17,000 miles of roads already and a $68 million backlog on maintenance. This means the Forest Service needs $68 million just to catch up on currently necessary maintenance. The Forest Service also reports that they use and need only about 20% of their current road system nationwide. If they cannot afford to maintain and do not need 80% of the current road system, should they be building any new roads?
• 92% of all National Forest land in Colorado is already within one mile of a road.
• Reports suggest that deposition of 25% fine sediments in spawning rubble or gravel reduces fry emergence by 50%.
• Destruction of riparian vegetation by road construction results in higher water temperatures, which reduces dissolved oxygen concentrations and increases fish oxygen demands.
• Road-caused sedimentation from runoff and landslides is one of the least publicized but most prolific of the human-caused impacts on coldwater fish. At least 15 different direct negative effects from sedimentation have been demonstrated to impact trout and salmon, ranging from stress, altered behavior, reductions in growth and direct mortality: “Suspended sediment blocks light affecting feeding and movement of fish and causes direct gill damage (if concentrations are high enough) that may lead to death. Excessive sediment in the stream bottom may act as a physical barrier and stop the emergence of fry or prevent proper flow of water to redds . . . Proper water flow is necessary to carry dissolved oxygen to incubating eggs and to remove waste products from developing embryo.”
• Studies from the Cascade Range in western Oregon show sediment production rates from roads-caused landslides into streams of nearly 130 times those of clear-cut areas and more than 300 times those of forested lands.