JACKSON, Wyo. — During a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico on Monday, June 23, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced the intent to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which was established to safeguard undeveloped areas within the nation’s forests.
The Roadless Rule, officially the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, was established in 2001 under the Clinton administration to provide lasting protection for roadless areas within the National Forest System, ending logging, roadbuilding and mineral development on undeveloped public lands. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the policy directive was a direct result of overwhelming public support, with 430 national forest public meetings drawing over 23,000 people nationwide in 2000. The federal register states that the Roadless Rule received more than 1.6 million comments — more comments than any other rule in the nation’s history.
During the Governors’ meeting, Rollins said that rescinding the rule will remove prohibitions on road construction and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest lands in the U.S., “allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.” Rollins also stated that this move aligns with President Trump’s goal of reducing burdensome barriers that impede American business and innovation.
“Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule,” Secretary Rollins said. “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.”
Tucker J. Furniss, PhD, assistant professor in the Ecosystem Science and Management Department at University of Wyoming, told Buckrail this spring that the relationship between forest management and wildfire mitigation is “complicated.”
“Managing a forest to maximize timber production will not reduce wildfire risk, as dense and homogeneous stands that result from heavy harvesting practices have higher — not lower — fire risk,” Furniss said. “We should instead prioritize landscape heterogeneity, structural complexity and forest health, as these attributes mitigate susceptibility to fire and other contagious disturbances like bark beetles. Forest management that prioritizes these ecological principles can produce some timber revenue, and it can create a lot of jobs, but this is not the same as a timber-oriented management strategy.”
The Forest Service wrote in the “Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation” Federal Register in 2001 that “inventoried roadless areas provide clean drinking water and function as biological strongholds for populations of threatened and endangered species. Inventoried roadless areas provide opportunities for dispersed outdoor recreation, opportunities that diminish as open space and natural settings are developed elsewhere.”
Rescinding the rule could impact over 9 million acres of national forest lands in Wyoming, including Bighorn National Forest, Ashley National Forest, Black Hills National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Bridger-Teton National Forest. WyoFile reported that approximately 3.3 million acres in Wyoming could be opened up to road building and commercial logging.
According to the USDA, rescinding the Road Rule will require preparation of environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states. The USDA wrote on its website that the rulemaking process is a three-stage effort including the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, notice of proposed rulemaking and the final rule. More details about these steps are available at regulations.gov.
