On Monday, June 23, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced during a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule.
The Colorado Roadless Rule, however, remains in place.
According to the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS’s) website, “The 2001 Roadless Rule establishes prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System lands. The intent of the 2001 Roadless Rule is to provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System in the context of multiple-use management.”
According to a USDA press release, “This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands.”
It notes that rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of National Forest System land, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.
“This rule is overly restrictive and poses real harm to millions of acres of our national forests,” the press release states.
It notes that, in total, 30 percent of National Forest System lands are impacted by this rule.
The press release cites as examples that nearly 60 percent of forest service land in Utah is restricted from road development and is unable to be properly managed for fire risk. In Montana, it is 58 percent, and in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest in the country, 92 percent is impacted.
“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,” the press release states.
The press release notes the action to rescind the rule aligns with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” which it notes is “to get rid of overcomplicated, burdensome barriers that hamper American business and innovation.”
It adds that it will also allow more decisions to be made at the local level, “helping land managers make the best decisions to protect people, communities and resources based on their unique local conditions.”
The press release also states that the rule “hurts jobs and economic development across rural America.”
It notes that Utah alone estimates the roadless rule alone creates a 25 percent decrease in economic development in the forestry sector.
Next steps
According to the USFS website, “This action will require preparation of environmental analysis, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, tribal consultation and coordination with affected states.”
The website explains the rulemaking process “is a three-stage effort including the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, notice of proposed rulemaking, and the final rule. More details about these steps are available at Regulations.gov.”
It adds, “More information will be released as the rescission process gets underway.”
The agency also notes that two states, Colorado and Idaho, have adopted state roadless area rules, explaining “the roadless area boundaries adopted in those rules supersede the boundaries from the 2001 Roadless Rule in those states.”
Colorado’s roadless rule, which covers 4.2 million acres, was put into place in 2012.
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