{"id":3745,"date":"2026-08-19T08:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3745"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:43:51","slug":"trump-administration-advances-plan-to-rescind-roadless-rule-protecting-national-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3745","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration advances plan to rescind ‘Roadless Rule’ protecting national forests"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a\u00a0formal proposal\u00a0to rescind a decades-old rule that protects more than 44 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting, including about 4.4 million acres in California.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Roadless Area Conservation Rule\u00a0is a 2001 bipartisan measure that established lasting protections for wilderness areas within national forests. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, said this week that repealing the rule would give local agencies more authority over land management issues and help reduce barriers to wildfire risk reduction.<\/p>\n

“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our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,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement, adding that “our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction.”<\/p>\n

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The repeal will primarily affect California and nine other Western states, which are home to more than 95% of inventoried roadless areas, the agency said. California’s roadless areas span 21 national forests, including portions of the Angeles, Tahoe, Inyo, Shasta-Trinity and Los Padres forests.<\/p>\n

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The announcement moves forward a plan\u00a0unveiled by the Trump administration last year\u00a0to open up roadless forests. It kicks off a 30-day public comment period leading up to a final decision. It also comes amid orders from the president to\u00a0ramp up domestic logging and timber production\u00a0by 25%.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists say the move will destroy some of the nation’s last remaining undisturbed wildlands.\u00a0Research\u00a0has found the construction of roads can fragment habitats and increase erosion and sediment pollution in drinking water, among other potentially harmful outcomes.<\/p>\n

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“These are some of the last truly wild forests left in the country, places that shelter endangered wildlife and protect our drinking water,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. “Once you start bulldozing roads for commercial logging and industrial development, there’s no getting them back.”<\/p>\n

Federal officials said the rescission will remove the national designation of roadless areas but does not mandate timber cutting or road construction. Forest Service chief Tom Schultz said it will allow for essential forest management activities, such as removing fire-prone dead timber. More than 40% of roadless areas have high or very high wildfire hazard potential, but only 5% have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014, he said.<\/p>\n

Several opponents disagreed with the notion that eliminating the roadless rule will reduce fire risk, pointing to studies that say wildfires are\u00a0more likely to ignite near roads\u00a0in part because roads can bring humans farther into the forest, creating more opportunities for accidental ignitions. Roads can also facilitate the spread of flammable invasive grasses and other fire fuels.<\/p>\n

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