Oregon leaders oppose USFS plans to rescind Roadless Rule, open national forest lands to development
Public input on latesr step of federal process sought before Sept. 21
By Brit Allen, The Sandy Standard
As the U.S. Forest Service moves forward with its plan that would reverse a 25-year-old rule that prevented development of select national forest lands, the public is invited again to provide input.
Tuesday, Aug. 18, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the next steps of the department’s proposal to revoke the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule as a whole, a policy deemed “a one-size-fits-all restriction that has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work across large swaths of America’s national forests” in a USDA press release.
“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction,” said Rollins in a statement. “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 For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our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.”
According to the USDA, the 2001 Roadless Rule has “limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas,” by restricting road construction in specific areas or select forests, including within more than 44 million acres of the total 193 million acres of National Forest lands in the country.
“More than 95% of inventoried roadless areas are in 10 Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming,” the USDA’s Aug. 18 statement explained. “The proposed rule does not apply to national forests in Colorado and Idaho because those lands are under separate state-specific roadless regulations.”
Multiple governors have signed on in support of this rule reversal, including Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, however, is not in support of this proposed action.
“The roadless rule covers nearly 2 million acres of federally owned land in Oregon and has protected vulnerable species of wildlife for decades,” Kotek said in a social media post in June of last year. “The Trump Administration’s decision to roll back long-standing protections for our public lands will have consequences for landscape resilience and related benefits like diverse ecosystems, clean water for communities, and recreational opportunities.”
Of like mind is U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR), who introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act last year in an attempt to codify the roadless rule into law.
“I am deeply disappointed that the Trump Administration is moving forward with repealing the Roadless Rule,” Salinas said in a statement on Aug. 20. “I have consistently advocated for the protection of our nation's most pristine lands. … the Administration claims this is about wildfire management. The Forest Service’s own analysis shows that roads increase the risk of fire by increasing human-caused ignitions. In fact, the rule poses no threat to responsible wildfire management. Nearly 2 million acres of roadless areas have undergone fuel treatments in recent years. Before the Roadless Rule, these forests and the surrounding communities were at risk of encroaching industrial logging, which threatened habitat loss and degraded clean water. Logging roads are not designed to create access for firefighters. They are designed to reach timber that had never before been accessible, and in the process, they fragment ecosystems and threaten communities.”
“New roads are not a magic bullet to fix the wildfire crisis,” Salinas added. “We need federal lands management agencies to focus on responsible forest management, but instead, the Trump Administration has cut 16% of the Forest Service’s staff, prioritized disruptive reorganization plans at critical wildfire agencies without congressional approval, and treated 25 percent fewer acres for hazardous fuels in 2025 compared to 2024. Instead of wiping out critical environmental protections, the Administration should refocus on what works and reinvest in the workforce that gets it done. I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to fight this reckless and dangerous decision.”
To offer your own comments on the proposed rule and drafted environmental impact statement, visit regulations.gov. Public comments must be received by midnight Monday, Sept. 21.
To read the 2001 Roadless Rule Rescission draft, visit regulations.gov/docket/FS-2025-0001.