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Recreation — including hunting — is a definite benefit of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. I am a hunter. We are truly blessed to have such a national amenity in our local backyard — even if it is still a work in progress. But neither hunting nor any type of recreation is the monument’s purpose.{br class="hardreturn" /} The purpose of the monument, according to its designating language, is to protect the native species and natural features of this outstandingly biodiverse and ecologically strategic biological corridor. These species, features and function are what make this Cascade-Siskiyou area such a special place and why a small part of it became a national monument. (I am also a carpenter — but, with many scientists, I think the monument should be bigger.) {br class="hardreturn" /} I live on 20 acres of my own land just inside the monument boundary. I have hunted the monument area each year for more than two decades. I treasure my hunting experiences here — especially backcountry hunting away from roads.{br class="hardreturn" /} Getting away from roads lets me experience quiet and see animals and things I don’t usually see from a road. The exercise is good for me and I can breathe clean mountain air away from noise and exhaust. Hunters are legally required to be 1,500 feet from a road before firing a gun. (How often do you think that regulation is respected?) In wet weather, road hunters often damage muddy back roads.{br class="hardreturn" /} I’m glad to see the Bureau of Land Management finally getting around to the monument's Transportation Management Plan mandated 16 years ago. What took BLM so long?{br class="hardreturn" /} BLM’s draft plan keeps talking about “access, access, access” — as though motor vehicles are the only way to “access” the monument. We drive to the monument. But the more we walk when we get there, the better it is for us and for the monument. BLM seems to forget that walking and horseback riding are far more “traditional” forms of “access” than driving.{br class="hardreturn" /} Too many roads slice up Southern Oregon backcountry. There are thousands of miles of roads — including hundreds of miles in the monument built for commercial logging that ended when the monument began. The monument’s road density is so extreme from obsolete logging roads that things are way out of whack from a hydrology and wildlife biology perspective.{br class="hardreturn" /} Backcountry roads fragment habitat. Roads are prime vectors for noxious weeds. Roads cause erosion and can trigger damaging landslides and debris flows that degrade streams and fish habitat.{br class="hardreturn" /} I have volunteered with the Greensprings Fire and Rescue District since it began. People talk about the benefit of roads for fire suppression. But backcountry roads are also prime vectors for human-caused fires, the most common source of wildland fire.{br class="hardreturn" /} BLM’s draft plan seems to mostly just consider closing dead-ends and spurs — many of which are already overgrown and not driveable now. Most, if not all, primary roads seem to be left open. I bet most people won’t even notice which roads are closed.{br class="hardreturn" /} BLM’s plan doesn’t seem to be creating any new roadless areas — and for those of us who care about fish, wildlife, and quality hunting experiences, that’s too bad. Unfragmented habitat is a dwindling and precious commodity we keep squandering. Let’s get some back!{br class="hardreturn" /} I’ve heard talk about the handicapped and elderly needing roads to experience monument backcountry. That ignores the fact that disabled and able-bodied people of all ages are on both sides of whether to protect or further degrade wildlands. In most of the world, degradation keeps winning. The monument is supposed to be different.{br class="hardreturn" /} A primary monument wildlands advocate lost most of both feet 40 years ago. He’s 63 years old. Another monument wildlands advocate is a double-amputee just below each knee. She’s no spring chicken. One of the best conservationists in Southern Oregon is a polio victim. She, too, qualifies for a senior citizen’s discount. And an early and strong advocate for protecting wildlands here was a now-deceased city councilman confined to a wheelchair at an early age.{br class="hardreturn" /} I hope to become a senior citizen myself someday. When I do — and even if I suffer disability along the way — I don’t want my age or affliction to be used to further injure wildands with roads in the monument or elsewhere. We should thank BLM for their legally required plan to close some monument roads — and ask them to do their job and close more.{br class="hardreturn" /} Matt Flotho is a carpenter who has lived in the Greensprings/Tyler Creek area for 20 years. He hunts in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument area and elsewhere. {br class="hardreturn" /} {br class="hardreturn" /}