Roadless Rule Under Threat: Speak Up for 45 Million Acres of National Forests

Photo credit: Gabe Tiller, Crescent Mountain, Oregon

Today, the USDA opened a 21-day comment period on its plan to rescind the Roadless Rule.

The Roadless Rule currently protects about one third of America’s National Forest land, including 8,659 climbing routes and bouldering problems, 768 miles of whitewater paddling runs, and 25,121 miles of trails. 

The proposed recission of the Roadless Rule would devastate America’s backcountry public lands and the millions of people who rely on them for outdoor recreation, clean air and water, and climate resilience.

When it was established in 2001, the Roadless Rule was the most-commented-on administrative rule ever at the time, and it has been broadly popular since then. The Rule offers flexible protections for recreation access, including mountain biking and motorized use, and allows for necessary active management to address wildfire and other public safety concerns. Fire suppression activities are explicitly allowed in Roadless Areas. Keeping Roadless Areas intact helps maintain healthy, resilient forests that store carbon and provide clean water, rather than fragmenting them with unnecessary roads that can actually increase long-term fire risk.

These flexible protections are critically important in the face of a changing climate and changing demands on our public lands, and these backcountry landscapes—spanning 42 states—include some of the most iconic and well-loved places for climbing, hiking, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, and paddling. Undoing this foundational conservation measure opens the door to unnecessary road construction, logging, and development that threatens both the outdoor experiences people treasure and the economic value of recreation in rural communities. 

 This latest attempt to roll back the Roadless Rule is part of a broader push to weaken protections for our shared public lands. Rescinding the rule would undermine a conservation framework that has stood for more than two decades, helping to ensure that National Forests remain healthy and resilient, and protecting a distinct recreation experience that only exists in these sorts of undeveloped backcountry areas.

 Now is the time to speak up. The USDA is accepting public comments until September 19, 2025, and it is vital that outdoor enthusiasts, rural communities, and everyone who values public lands make their voices heard. By submitting a comment, you can help demonstrate the overwhelming public support for keeping Roadless Areas wild and protected for generations to come.

 The Roadless Rule has endured because people cared enough to stand up for it. We need that same commitment today to ensure that our backcountry forests and the outdoor experiences they make possible remain protected.