Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the Forest Service has proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a regulation that has restricted road building and commercial logging across approximately 58.5 million acres of national forests for a quarter century, on Aug. 28.
The administration argues the rule worsens wildfire risk by preventing mechanical thinning and timber harvest on protected lands, according to the USDA. If finalized, the rescission would open those acres to expanded logging, road construction, and other commercial management activities across 19 states.
The proposal would constitute the largest reversal of national forest conservation policy in a generation and is virtually certain to trigger immediate legal challenges from environmental groups.
The 2001 Roadless Rule, issued in the final days of the Clinton administration, is one of the most litigated conservation regulations in U.S. history. It prohibits most road construction and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas of national forests, protecting watersheds, wildlife habitat, and carbon-storing old-growth forests.
The administration’s wildfire justification comes as the Pacific Northwest is experiencing a record fire season, with more than 2.5 million acres already burned, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Proponents of the rescission argue that active forest management reduces catastrophic wildfire risk.
Conservation groups contend that the Roadless Rule protects some of the last undeveloped forest landscapes in the country and that road building in roadless areas would fragment habitat, increase erosion, and open pristine watersheds to degradation.
The proposal is subject to public notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act before any final rule can be issued. Previous attempts to modify the Roadless Rule at the state level have resulted in years of litigation.
The affected 58.5 million acres — roughly one-third of all national forest land — include critical headwater areas that supply drinking water to millions of Americans in downstream communities.