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"The most interesting finding from the study was that roads impact biodiversity independently of deforestation, via more cryptic forms of disturbance. These disturbances include reduction in habitat quality, increased risk of forest fires, and, perhaps most importantly, the facilitation of human access to undisturbed lands, increasing the potential for illegal logging, poaching, and colonization. "

Political ecologist Susanna Hecht has incurred the wrath of some conservationists by arguing that the notion of the primeval forest is largely a myth and that disturbed forests play a vital ecological function. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she makes the case for a "new rurality" that places less emphasis on protected forests and more on the areas where people live.