The U.S. Forest Service has proposed the elimination of federal guidelines that have blocked road construction on nearly 45 million acres of public lands for decades.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins made the announcement Tuesday and says the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, first established in 2001, blocks wildfire risk reduction work in national forests.
“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction,” she said in a press release. “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 For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our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.
Officials say the recission prioritizes “local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs.”
The plan would strip road-building bans from roadless areas in every state except Idaho and Colorado, which have their own separate rules.
The Forest Service are seeking public comment on the proposal through Sept. 21 and a draft environmental impact statement filed in the Federal Register.
Forest industry groups applauded the proposal. The American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing more than 50 forest product businesses, says repealing the Roadless Rule would give “land managers greater flexibility to address wildfire risk and declining forest health on millions of acres of National Forest System lands.”
Conservationists, however, were quick to condemn the move. The Center for Biological Diversity says lifting the rule would “open nearly 45 million acres of wild, unfragmented forest across 37 states to road construction, logging and other development.
“Trump is pushing for the largest evisceration of public lands protection in American history and against what Americans want,” says Randi Spivak, public lands policy director for the Center. “These are some of the last truly wild forests left in the country, places that shelter endangered wildlife and protect our drinking water. Once you start bulldozing roads for commercial logging and industrial development, there’s no getting them back. Americans love their public lands and want them protected. We’re going to fight like hell to safeguard these wild places for future generations.”
The Center also points to a nationwide study that shows human-caused wildfires are four times more likely in areas with roads when compared to roadless areas.
According to a map produced by the group, there are large swaths of roadless areas in eastern Arizona, including the Gila Mountains. There are several roadless areas in the Verde Valley, Chino Valley, west of Prescott and elsewhere throughout the state.
“Roadless forests are where wildlife live,” says Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director for the Center. “They’re home to jaguars, Mexican spotted owls, and ocelots, some of the most iconic animals on the continent. Plowing roads into their habitat will bring human-caused wildfires and disturbances that they don’t need and can’t afford. We’ve fought for years to protect the forests and animals of the Southwest and there’s no way we’re giving up now.”
