Roadless Rule Repeal Pits Conservation Community against Pro-Development Entities

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced at the end of June her intention to roll back the Roadless Rule. The Roadless Rule has been in place since 2001, signed into effect during the last days of the Clinton Administration.

The Roadless Rule protects around 59 million acres of National Forests from road construction, essentially protecting those same areas from any kind of development. The designation applies to areas of National Forests that were largely undisturbed, even if they currently have roads running through them. The Roadless Rule only stipulated that new roads couldn’t be built.

On August 29, the Department of Agriculture formally pushed for the Roadless Rule’s rescission by publishing a notice seeking public comment on the agency’s intention to develop an environmental impact statement for what a world without the Roadless Rule would look like.

Once that environmental impact statement (EIS) is completed, it will be subject to yet more review and rulemaking.

“The draft EIS might be available later this winter, triggering another round of public review, followed by more rulemaking,” writes Robert Chaney of Montana Free Press. 

Why Rescind The Rule?

Rollins and other Trump Administration officials are pushing for the rule’s rescission to help mitigate wildfires and promote logging. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz, in Rollins’ release of her intention to end the Roadless Rule, said, “For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action – prohibiting road construction, which has limited wildfire suppression and active forest management. The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities.”

Is That The Whole Truth?

Naturally, Schulz’s claims aren’t taken as the gospel for forest management. Wild Montana, a conservation group, took issue with quite a bit of what Schultz said. Spokesman Alex Blackmer told Montana Free Press that “They’re using timber harvest and wildfire management as a Trojan horse. Timber companies don’t particularly want this. They can achieve timber goals in already accessible stands of trees. And the Forest Service personnel on the ground don’t want this. They have an $8 billion maintenance backlog, trying to maintain access to roads we already have.”

Corey Fisher, the public land policy director for Trout Unlimited, told Mark Heinz at Cowboy State Daily, “Anglers should be worried about an across-the-board elimination of the rule. That’s because the headwaters of some of Wyoming’s most prized fisheries – such as the Snake River – are in currently roadless areas.”

Fisher went on to detail how the Roadless Rule stops road building and logging in those areas, which could potentially fragment vital spawning habitat and streams for native trout.

What About Timber Harvest?

While the rescission of the rule might be touted as a boon for lumber mills, that’s not exactly the song they’re singing.

Jenny Haider, whose family owns two lumber mills in Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily that the Roadless Rule change would be welcome, but it’s “too little, too late.” Haider told Cowboy State Daily that, of all the additional lumber they could harvest, about half of it is dead.

“It’s almost to the point where they need to pay us to come and haul this dead wood away, because that’s kind of what it’s going to take to make it worth it on our end,” Haider said.

What’s Next?

Whether the rule gets rescinded is almost moot because it’ll certainly be challenged in court. Any changes we might see from the rule change will be years down the road. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t act if you feel the rule should be kept in its current form. Public comment on the draft EIS is open, and you can leave your comments here.

Last Updated on September 8, 2025 by Max Inchausti