Overview

• On June 23, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins declared the department’s plan to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, opening 58.5 million acres of national forest land to road construction and timber harvest.
• The upcoming Federal Register notice will kick off a rulemaking process with a public comment period expected to stretch for months and prompt lawsuits from conservation groups and some states.
• Conservationists warn that new logging roads could increase wildfire ignitions, degrade wildlife habitat and damage watersheds, while timber industry advocates and certain state officials argue for greater local fire management flexibility.
• Critics highlight the U.S. Forest Service’s dwindling workforce and nearly $5 billion backlog in road maintenance, questioning its capacity to build and care for additional forest roads.
• Mixed scientific findings, including a Forest Service study showing similar burn frequencies in roadless and roaded areas, fuel debate over the effectiveness of the repeal for wildfire risk reduction.