AFRC Supports Forest Service Proposal to Rescind 2001 Roadless Rule

Rule has limited access and proactive forest management as wildfire risk and forest mortality have increased across the West

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) welcomes the U.S. Forest Service's proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, saying the action would give professional land managers greater flexibility to address wildfire risk and declining forest health on millions of acres of National Forest System lands.

The Forest Service today announced it has filed its proposed rule and draft Environmental Impact Statement to rescind the Roadless Rule in its entirety. The 25-year-old rule restricts road construction, reconstruction and timber harvest across more than 44 million acres of the National Forest System. More than 95 percent of the affected Inventoried Roadless Areas are located in 10 Western states.

"The Forest Service is right to take a hard look at a policy that was written for forest conditions that looked very different 25 years ago," said AFRC President Travis Joseph. "Our national forests are experiencing severe wildfire, drought, insects and disease on a scale that few anticipated when the Roadless Rule was adopted. Forest professionals need the flexibility and access to respond to those conditions before we lose more forests, watersheds and wildlife habitat to catastrophic wildfire. We should continue to adapt and learn from failed policies to meet the moment, not continue to cling to positions and ideas that don't serve the public's interest."

According to the Forest Service, more than 40 percent of Inventoried Roadless Areas have high or very high wildfire hazard potential, yet only 5 percent have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014. The agency also reports that 11.3 million acres of roadless lands are already located near existing roads.

Those conditions can be seen across the West. An AFRC analysis using federal burn severity data documented extensive overlap between Inventoried Roadless Areas and wildfires since the Roadless Rule was adopted. Before and after imagery shows severe wildfire impacts in roadless areas on National Forests in Oregon, Washington, California, Montana and elsewhere. In Oregon alone, examples include the Waldo Lake Roadless Area burned by the 2022 Cedar Creek Fire, the Opal Creek Roadless Area burned by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire, and the Mount Jefferson Roadless Area affected by the 2017 Whitewater and 2020 Lionshead fires.

"Calling an area roadless does not protect it from wildfire, insects or disease," Joseph said. "The question should be whether these forests are healthy, and whether Forest Service professionals have the tools they need to keep them healthy and resilient now and into the future. Science based, proactive forest management is conservation, responsible stewardship, and protection of our public lands."

Access is also critical to effective forest management and wildfire response. Roads allow equipment to reach areas needing thinning and fuels reduction while providing firefighters routes to reach fires, establish control lines and respond safely. Rescinding the Roadless Rule would allow Forest Service professionals to consider those access needs based on actual conditions on the ground.

The proposed rescission would not automatically authorize timber harvest or road construction in Inventoried Roadless Areas. Instead, it would return decisions about these lands to the forest level planning process. Future projects would remain subject to federal laws and existing forest plans that determine where and how management can occur.

That distinction is particularly important in the Pacific Northwest, where the Roadless Rule was layered over the Northwest Forest Plan and other land management direction that already restricts forest management across large portions of federal forests. Removing the nationwide Roadless Rule would not change those forest plan designations. It would give local Forest Service professionals greater ability to consider site specific forest conditions where management is otherwise allowed.

"For too long, we have treated blanket restrictions as a substitute for conservation while millions of acres of federal forests have burned," Joseph said. "Healthy forests require management, and effective management requires access. Rescinding the Roadless Rule gives local forest professionals greater flexibility to use science and their expertise to decide what these landscapes need instead of having those decisions dictated by a nationwide rule."

The Forest Service is accepting public comments on the proposed rule and draft Environmental Impact Statement through September 21, 2026.