Field organizing and petition gathering

In 2000, several national environmental groups asked the Fund to gather petitions to help win protection for America’s last pristine national forests. The U.S. Forest Service invited the public to weigh in on whether roadless areas in national forests should remain undeveloped, and the environmental community decided to flood the Forest Service with comments in favor of full protection.  Thanks to the work of the Fund's petitioners, the Fund’s partners submitted over half a million comments supporting the strongest possible protections for these forests, ultimately playing a key role in convincing then-President Clinton to pass the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2001.