22 Oct An Overview of the Roadless Rule and What it Means for You… by Maxwell Bridge

You may have heard about the Roadless Rule, but what is it and how does it affect you?

What is the Roadless Rule

During the Clinton Administration, the U.S. Forest Service established the Roadless Rule policy to prohibit road construction, reconstruction, and logging on millions of acres of National Forest System lands. This rule enacted in January 2001 to preserve areas, as you might have guessed, road-free places.

Specifically, this rule “prohibits road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest in inventoried roadless areas because they have the greatest likelihood of altering and fragmenting landscapes, resulting in immediate, long-term loss of roadless area values and characteristics” (“Special areas; Roadless area conservation” 2001). The rule protects watersheds, wildlife habitats, reference landscapes, and recreational opportunities by limiting mining, oil and gas leasing, and timber harvesting. The rule safeguards 58.5 million acres of national forest (“Special areas; Roadless area conservation” 2001).

There has been increased discussion about the Roadless Rule since the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans in June 2025 to rescind it, allowing road construction on 45 million acres of previously protected forest.

On June 23, 2025, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke L. Rollins, announced fire prevention and responsible timber production as reasons for the resignation. The announcement states, “Of the 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas covered under the 2001 Roadless Rule, 28 million acres are in areas at high or very high risk of wildfire. Rescinding this rule will allow this land to be managed at the local forest level, with more flexibility to take swift action to reduce wildfire risk and help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure.”

What does this mean for you?

In the State of Colorado, the resignation of the Roadless Rule won’t have an impact on our Public Lands, as Colorado (as well as Idaho) has its own version of the Roadless Rule. For other States, however, the rescinding of the Roadless Rule will have to go through the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Additionally, rescinding the Roadless Rule must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and numerous other relevant laws. Furthermore, an Environmental Impact Statement will need to be developed, which will analyze the effects of rescinding the rule. If successful, some, if not all, of the 45 million acres of previously protected forest lands could be subject to road construction and resource development.

As expected, the rescinding of the Roadless Rule will take a significant amount of time and has already incurred considerable pushback. Public lands are where people visit for recreation. The Forest Service reported in 2020 that they “estimate there were about 156 million recreation visits to national forests (United States Department of Agriculture & U.S. Forest Service, 2020).” With “nearly half of visits to national forests come from people who live within 50 miles of the forest” (United States Department of Agriculture & U.S. Forest Service, 2020). The Roadless Rule is very popular across America, regardless of party lines. The Center for Western Priorities reported that “over 99 percent” of the public comments submitted to regulations.gov opposed the plan to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule (Weiss, 2025).  

With the popularity of the Roadless Rule, you could see more and more Western States develop their own version of the rule, just like Colorado and Idaho have already done.

Written by Maxwell M. Bridge, Attorney at KMD Law

Works Cited:

Special areas; roadless area conservation; National Forest System lands. (2025, August 29). Federal Register. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/29/2025-16581/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation-national-forest-system-lands#:~:text=Today%2C%20inventoried%20roadless%20areas%20total,within%20the%20Tongass%20National%20Forest.

United States Department of Agriculture & U.S. Forest Service. (2020). National Visitor Use Monitoring Survey Results National Summary Report. https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2021-National-Visitor-Use-Monitoring-Summary-Report.pdf

Weiss, A. (2025, September 23). Comment analysis finds over 99% opposition to repealing 2001 Roadless Rule. Center for Western Priorities. https://westernpriorities.org/2025/09/comment-analysis-finds-over-99-opposition-to-repealing-2001-roadless-rule/