09/21/2026
Submit a comment opposing the rescission at regulations.gov/docket/FS-2025-0001
Our last truly wild national forests are one rule away from losing their only protection.
For 25 years, the Roadless Rule has kept 58.5 million acres of national forest, across 39 states, off-limits to new road building and industrial logging. The USDA has now proposed rescinding it entirely, opening up more than 44 million acres to development.
Here's what's actually at stake:
🌲 Drinking water for 60 million Americans, filtered naturally by intact forest
🌲 Habitat for salmon, elk, wolves, and 220+ other threatened and endangered species
🌲 Some of the last old-growth forest left in the country, and the carbon it stores
The USDA is framing this as a wildfire-prevention measure, arguing that removing road restrictions will let the Forest Service better manage fire risk. But the data tells a different story. Research shows wildfires are four times more likely to start in roaded areas than in roadless ones, and roughly 90% of wildfires ignite within half a mile of a road. Cutting roads into these forests doesn't reduce fire risk , it increases the human activity most likely to cause it in the first place.
This isn't final yet. Rescinding the rule requires a full environmental review, and public comments are part of the legal record; they carry real weight.
The public comment period closes October 6, 2026.
Sources: https://www.sierraclub.org/save-roadless-rule-protect-our-forests
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/01/12/01-726/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation
