USDA Proposes Eliminating Roadless Rule Despite Broad Opposition

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- On Aug. 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed rescinding the U.S. Forest Service's 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, commonly known as the Roadless Rule. This rule, which generally limits new road building and timber harvest activities on specified National Forest System lands, covers 44.7 million acres of public lands in 38 states and Puerto Rico, excluding Idaho and Colorado. The rule initially encompassed 58.5 million acres of public lands, but the Forest Service later adopted state-specific rules, reducing the total covered area.

The USDA's own draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) suggests that repealing the Roadless Rule would likely cause significant economic and environmental harm. The DEIS examined three options: retaining the rule as is, repealing it, or removing 31.7 million acres, or 71%, of the covered acreage from roadless protections. The USDA favored the full repeal, despite the DEIS findings indicating a wide range of potentially harmful effects, including little reduction in wildfire risk and increased federal road maintenance costs.

Before the rule, about 386,000 miles of roads had been built on National Forest System lands, largely funded with federal timber subsidies. Since the rule's implementation in 2001, the Forest Service has managed the 193 million acres of the National Forest System to ease fiscal strain associated with road construction and retain the benefits of undeveloped forests for people and nature. The rule has helped stem the loss of intact backcountry forests in inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) without hindering actions to protect critical habitat or public health and safety, particularly wildfire mitigation efforts.

The DEIS shows that since the rule took effect, IRAs have been treated to reduce wildfire risk at similar rates as other National Forest System lands, demonstrating that the rule supports conservation alongside active management. The DEIS also notes that road building within forests can actually lead to more human-caused fires. Public support for the Roadless Rule is strong, with the Forest Service receiving more than 625,000 public and stakeholder comments, 99% of which opposed repeal. Additionally, many Tribal Nations, including the National Congress of American Indians, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, and Coalition of Large Tribes, have repeatedly weighed in through resolutions opposing repeal. In early September, a bipartisan group of 164 U.S. senators and representatives urged the USDA to halt the repeal effort and focus instead on implementing the rule effectively.

A Forest Service review of data from 2014 to 2024 found little relative difference in acreage burned or fire intensity among wilderness areas, inventoried roadless areas, and other National Forest System lands. The DEIS states that repeal could create more opportunities for projects that remove trees and brush to reduce wildfire fuel, including expanded timber harvest facilitated by roads. However, steep terrain and high harvesting costs in IRAs would generally limit that work. Furthermore, the DEIS says wildfire ignitions are about four times as common on other National Forest System lands as they are in IRAs and wilderness areas, and because most wildfire ignitions are caused by human activity, often near roads, repeal is unlikely to change the overall risk of severe wildfire to communities or nature.

Increased road maintenance costs are a significant concern. National Forest System lands contain more than twice as many road miles as the National Highway System, and the Forest Service already faces a $6.9 billion backlog for maintaining its roads and bridges. A new dirt road can cost roughly $80,000 to $100,000 per mile, excluding major drainage structures. A two-lane paved road can cost up to $4 million per mile. New roads also increase long-term maintenance costs. According to the DEIS, gains in timber-sale revenue would not be enough to offset the costs of building and maintaining project-related roads, resulting in a net loss to taxpayers. Repealing the rule would open 44.7 million acres to timber production, but because of steep slopes, long hauling distances, and other technical, economic, and management limitations, annual sawtimber harvest would increase by only an estimated 5% to 10%, adding roughly $4.6 million to 10.6 million a year to the nation's $288 billion forest products industry.

Repeal would also harm the recreation economy. National forests provide many forms of recreation, and those with IRAs account for 76% of annual visits to the National Forest System. Repeal would lead to more roads and timber harvest, potentially increasing development in some backcountry lands. Although road-based recreation and developed campgrounds could increase, hiking, hunting, fishing, backcountry camping, and other forms of dispersed/quiet recreation could decline. Outdoor recreation spending makes up about 2.4% of the U.S. gross domestic product, and taken together, the Forest Service projects an annual loss of $6.1 million in economic benefits from recreation.

Threats to municipal water supplies are another concern. Forests supply drinking water to more than 150 million Americans, and the DEIS anticipates population and water demand growth in many Western communities, including near roadless areas. Roads and logging can send sediment into waterways, degrading water quality and potentially intercepting, concentrating, or diverting natural flows. Municipal water systems in the Southwest are especially vulnerable because many people rely on watersheds that contain roadless areas, while systems in the South and East could experience significant effects because those regions' relatively accessible terrain may allow substantial roadbuilding and timber harvesting.

Wildlife at risk is a critical issue.