Environmental advocates sound alarm over Trump admin's plan to repeal forest protections
The "Roadless Rule" has been effective since enacted in 2001, supporters say.
The Trump administration's move to end protections for 58 million acres of national forests will open up the federal lands to immense destruction, according to environmental advocates.
On Monday, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the "Roadless Rule," enacted in 2001 to preserve federal forestlands, would be repealed.
The rule establishes prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of roadless areas throughout the National Forest System -- about a third of the total land within the system, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The regulation was first proposed by the Clinton administration in 1999 and was signed by President Bill Clinton before he left office in 2001, after years of formulation and public comment, resulting in broad support.
But Rollins claimed the regulation was "outdated" and "overly restrictive."
"This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity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," the USDA said in a press release on Monday. "Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production."
The administrative rule has resulted in nearly 60% of forest service land in Utah being restricted from road development and unable to be managed for fire risk, according to the USDA. In Montana, 58% of federal forest land is restricted, and about 92% of Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the USDA said.
About 28 million acres of federal forest that fall under the Roadless Rule are at "high or very high risk" of wildfires, the USDA said.
But environmental advocates are sounding the alarm at the high level of damage that could be done to federal wildlands should the Roadless Rule be walked back, and accused the Trump administration of showing preference to private industry over environmental protections.
"Our nation’s public forests belong to all of us, but the Trump Administration is treating them as property for the private industry to clearcut, drill and profit," Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement to ABC News.
Revoking the Roadless Rule could actually cause more fires because ignitions are more likely in roaded landscapes, said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at Earthjustice.
Wildfires are nearly four times more likely to start in forest areas that have roads, in comparison with roadless areas, according to a recent analysis by The Wilderness Society, which analyzed wildfire data from 1992 to 2024.
The repeal also lays the groundwork for a major increase in industrial logging across federal forests, Caputo said in a statement to ABC News.
"The Trump administration now wants to throw these forest protections overboard so the timber industry can make huge money from unrestrained logging," Caputo said.
The Roadless Rule has been "remarkably successful" in protecting the nation's forest from destructive energy development, mining, logging and road building, Hicks said.
The rule has also helped to safeguard the lands used for outdoor recreation, habitat for wildlife and protections for clean drinking water that flows through the forest streams, Hicks said.
"Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breath and drink, abundant recreational opportunities which millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons," Hicks said.
Roadless areas are sources of clean water and some of the best hunting and fishing opportunities on the planet, Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited, an environmental organization focusing on the care and recovery of rivers, said in a statement to ABC News.
"Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the Forest Service, once described conservation as ‘the application of common sense to common problems for the common good,’" Wood said. "Let’s hope common sense prevails and the Administration reconsiders its proposal."
Vera Smith, director of the national forests and public lands program at Defenders of Wildlife, detailed the repeal as "taking a blowtorch" to the landmark rule that has shielded nearly 60 million acres of national forests from the serious impacts of development.
"America’s roadless forests are crucial strongholds for wildlife, including at-risk species that are battling extinction," Smith said. "Sec. Rollins' boon to industry is yet another punishing blow to the American people and the wildlife and wild places we all hold dear."
The repeal of the Roadless Rule aligns with Trump's deregulation agenda, according to the USDA. The action will also allow more decisions to be made at the local level, the USDA said.
In March, Trump announced an executive order for the expansion of timber production in the U.S., stating that the production of timber is "essential" for crucial activities such as construction and energy production.
"Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule," 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."
A formal notice of the rollback will be issued in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The move will be met with resistance by environmental organizations.
"We will stand for America’s national forests and the wildlife that depend on them," Caputo said. "If the Trump administration actually revokes the roadless rule, we'll see them in court."