If you think Idaho’s roadless rule doesn’t affect you, think again.

Eastern Washington and North Idaho share something deeper and more important than state borders. We share a watershed. The aquifer that provides drinking water in Spokane and to half a million people is fed by snowpack runoff from pristine mountain streams in North Idaho. The headwaters of these rugged mountain streams are in roadless areas that provide big trout, big game and world-class recreation. Idaho has 9.3 million acres of roadless areas, the most of any state in the lower 48, and perhaps because of this, Idaho also has one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. As populations rise in both Idaho and Washington, protection of these special places becomes more and more crucial.

Earlier this month the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Idaho released a new plan for the management of Idaho’s pristine roadless areas as a replacement for the 2001 roadless rule. According to the Forest Service, 6 million acres of Idaho’s roadless areas will lose important protections. Affected areas include local gems like the Katka and Scotchman Peaks roadless areas and include areas in our watershed like East Cathedral Peak.

Under the 2001 rule, stakeholders from the conservation community, industry and the recreationists worked together with the Forest Service to create forest management plans. These plans provide protections from stream-polluting activities, such as road building, logging and mining, and habitat protection for wildlife, while protecting homes and communities from wildfire and providing opportunities for industry. Public participation in regulatory decisions like this allow the flexibility to achieve these goals much more effectively than the “we’ll decide for you” method now being proposed by Idaho and the Forest Service.

The new Idaho roadless rule is not needed. Last year The Lands Council and diverse interests in Bonners Ferry found common ground to protect their water supply. Careful thinning in the Selkirk roadless area, which is allowed under the 2001 roadless rule, gives wildfire protection and still keeps the wildness that caribou and grizzly need.

Compared with the 2001 rule, the new rule will impose on us the logging of eight times as many acres of roadless areas, the building of four times as many roads, and will open half a million more acres to mining, possibly leading to more post-mine superfund sites. Of the areas opened to increased road construction and mining, a quarter of a million acres are watersheds that provide drinking water. According to the Forest Service, two-thirds of Idaho’s roadless areas will lose some degree of their natural and pristine characteristics, the same characteristics that draw people to the Inland Northwest.

Changing Idaho’s roadless rule doesn’t make sense for the future of the Inland Northwest. We rely on these areas for economic, recreational and health benefits as well as scenic beauty. Our roadless areas provide clean water and define the character of the Inland Northwest. All of them should be protected from roads, mining and commercial logging.

North Idaho’s roadless areas are not just our backyard, they’re our water source They should continue to enjoy the protections they deserve so that future generations in our area can enjoy the quality of life they provide.