During a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the Department of Agriculture is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. “This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands,” she said. “Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.”
The Clinton administration implemented the Roadless Rule in 2001 based on an inventory of previously unprotected wilderness-quality lands. The rule protects 30% of national forest lands and has been attacked by every subsequent Republican administration, including President Donald J. Trump’s first-term order to remove Roadless Rule protections for old-growth trees on the Tongass National Forest. That order was rescinded by President Joseph Biden.
In 2002, President George W. Bush attempted to revoke the Roadless Rule, and congressional Democrats responded by introducing the Roadless Area Conservation Act. The bill, introduced 11 times with as many as 189 cosponsors, would make the Roadless Rule law, but despite its popularity, Congress has failed to enact the proposed legislation. Along the way, various Court decisions have upheld the Roadless Rule despite multiple efforts to eliminate it.
Rollins’ announcement of the demise of the Roadless Rule is long on rhetoric, and her justification for rescinding the rule ignores congressional mandates that the Forest Service protect critical water resources. More than 370,000 miles of mostly unpaved roads, many built for clear-cut logging, already crisscross our national forests, posing threats to drinking water sources, stream health, vital wetlands, and habitat for threatened and endangered species. In fact, the furthest anyone can be from a road anywhere in the lower 48 states is only 22 miles.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would not only increase road construction, but would also support clear-cutting old-growth forests and increase pollution from mineral extraction. According to the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, national forests and other public lands provide the foundation for a $1.2 trillion per year industry that would be harmed by the these industrial activities.
Regardless of the veracity of Rollins’ unsupported claims about benefits from eliminating roadless protections, neither she nor Trump can legally rescind the Roadless Rule by proclamation. Such a rescission requires a rule-making process that adheres to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Forest Service has now initiated the NEPA process to do away with the Roadless Rule, and a brief public comment period remains open until September 19, 2025. Given the lack of a definitive deadline (to the minute, as is traditional with public comment deadlines) prudence suggests commenting sooner than later:
https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS-2025-0001-0001
Photo: Poorly constructed and unmaintained backcountry roads contaminate pristine water resources, allow old-growth logging, and support toxic mineral extraction on our public lands.
