The USDA has rescinded the 2001 “Roadless Rule,” a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) regulation that restricted road construction and timber harvesting on more than 58 million acres of national forest land, opening the door for increased timber harvesting and wildfire mitigation.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the decision on June 23 during a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico. The move, she said, is aimed at restoring management authority to local and regional officials while supporting wildfire mitigation efforts and rural economic development.
“This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity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,” USDA said in a statement. “Rescinding the rule will allow for fire prevention and responsible timber production.”
First implemented in 2001 under the Clinton administration, the Roadless Rule was designed to protect roadless areas within the National Forest System from development, including timber harvesting and the construction of new roads. These areas represent about 30% of the total forest lands managed by USFS, encompassing ecologically sensitive lands across the country.
According to the USDA, nearly 60% of USFS land in Utah, 58% in Montana and 92% in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest are restricted from road development, limiting the ability to manage forests for wildfire risk. Officials say these limitations also impact rural economies, with Utah estimating the Roadless Rule contributes to a 25% decline in economic development within the forestry sector. The agency said approximately 28 million acres of roadless-designated forest lands are in areas identified as high or very high wildfire risk.
USDA cited President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, as part of a broader effort to eliminate what it calls burdensome regulations that hinder economic growth.
“Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule,” said Rollins. “This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests. It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”
However, environmental groups and public land advocates sharply criticized the decision. Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at Earthjustice, warned that lifting the Roadless Rule would open the door to widespread clear-cutting.
“The Roadless Rule has protected 58 million acres of our wildest national forest lands from clearcutting for more than a generation,” Caputo said. “The Trump administration now wants to throw these forest protections overboard so the timber industry can make huge money from unrestrained logging. These are lands that belong to all Americans, not the timber industry. We will stand for America’s national forests and the wildlife that depend on them. If the Trump administration actually revokes the Roadless Rule, we’ll see them in court.”
Opponents also dispute the administration’s justification that lifting road restrictions will reduce wildfires. A recent analysis from The Wilderness Society, currently under peer review, found that wildfires are nearly four times more likely to ignite in areas with roads than in roadless landscapes. The group argues that increasing road development could raise the risk of wildfires, while also fragmenting habitat and threatening endangered species.
The Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Roadless Rule drew mixed reactions from Western governors during a public event at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe, NM, as reported by Source New Mexico.
Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) welcomed the rollback, saying the rule has left large areas of forest untreated and increasingly vulnerable to wildfires. “A good forest is like a garden. You actually have to tend it and take care of it,” he said.
In contrast, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) defended the Clinton-era rule, emphasizing the role of climate change in worsening fires. “You’re in New Mexico and we’re very clear about that,” she told Rollins, who had suggested the climate debate was for another time. Despite their differences, Lujan Grisham thanked Rollins for supporting more state-level control over forest management and acknowledged that even President Bill Clinton would likely support increased efforts to mitigate wildfires. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
