On June 23, 2025, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced at a Western Governors’ Association meeting that the USDA will rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule protecting nearly 59 million acres of national forestland. The rescission follows decades of challenges to the rule, originally enacted by President Bill Clinton.
The rule aimed to preserve wilderness by prohibiting road construction and logging on 30% of National Forest land, though some debate the rule’s effect on wildfire risk and economic development.
The USDA claims that removing the rule will allow local forest managers more flexibility to reduce wildfire risks through timber harvests and road building. At the same time, critics warn that this rollback threatens wildlife habitat, drinking water, and expands large-scale logging and mining.
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Environmentalists highlight the rule as a key conservation achievement, protecting mature forests and watersheds, with over 1.6 million public comments previously supporting these protections. They vow to challenge the rollback in court as a corporate giveaway.
This policy change could increase timber supply and wildfire management options, but raises concerns about long-term forest health, ecosystem fragmentation, and the loss of protections for millions of acres in 38 states, including critical areas in California and Alaska.
