USDA Proposal Would Table The 2001 Roadless Rule

The Trump administration has proposed scrapping a 25-year-old rule restricting roads and some forest management in designated roadless areas on national forests. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the change would give local forest managers more flexibility to reduce wildfire fuels, address insect and disease outbreaks, and improve forest health.

“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction," Rollins noted. "Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes. For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands. It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.”

The USDA noted for 25 years, the 2001 Roadless Rule restricted road construction and limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas. Currently, that includes more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The rescission is intended to prioritize local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs.

“This proposed rule is commonsense policy sought since the first Trump administration. In the years since, the need for it has only become more apparent,” said Deputy Secretary Stephen A. Vaden. “It is a credit to President Trump that we can begin to put into place a rule that will allow us to properly manage our national forests, because the first step to managing forests is to have access to them.”

The move could have a major impact across the Northwest. More than 95% of the nation’s inventoried roadless areas are in ten Western states, including Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming. , The proposed rule does not apply to national forests in Idaho because those lands are under separate state-specific roadless regulations.

The Forest Service said more than 40% of those areas face high or very high wildfire risk, while only about 5% have received hazardous-fuels treatments since 2014. The proposal does not require logging or road construction, but would allow those decisions to be considered locally.

“Active forest management is not an option. It’s essential,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “More than 40% of inventoried roadless areas, primarily in the West, have high or very high wildfire hazard potential. And only 5% of those areas have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014. At the same time, more than a quarter of these lands—11.3 million acres—are already near existing roads. Acting now, thoughtfully and decisively, is the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighboring communities.”

The USDA is accepting comments on the Roadless Area Rule Comments can be submitted Here. Public comments are due September 21st.