Gallego, Cantwell & Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Extend Public Comment Period for Roadless Rule Repeal

Trump's administration is pushing forward on plan to overturn protections on nearly 60 million acres of pristine National Forest lands, despite massive public pushback

WASHINGTON - Today, Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) led 54 of their Congressional colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tom Schultz urging them to extend the public comment period for a proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule.

The Roadless Rule, enacted in 2001, protects 58.5 million acres of untouched U.S. Forest Service land from wasteful new road construction. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a notice in the Federal Register indicating that the Trump administration intends to start an environmental review process to rescind the rule. The notice started the clock on a three-week public comment period, currently set to expire on September 19.

"The Roadless Rule is a landmark public-lands rule that has ensured the responsible management of nearly 60 million acres of National Forest System land and the irreplaceable resources they provide since its inception," the lawmakers wrote.

"Its repeal represents a major shift in the longstanding management of lands in virtually all federal forests across the country - forests that our constituents care deeply about. This includes protections of over half of the 17 million-acre mature and old-growth Tongass National Forest in Alaska - America's largest forest and last remaining temperate rainforest - which offers critical opportunities for Tribal subsistence, tourism, outdoor recreation, and carbon sequestration. Twenty-one days is simply not enough to provide the opportunity for meaningful participation that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires."

The letter urges the Rollins and Schultz to "provide a minimum of 45 days for the public to comment and participate in public hearings, and 120 days for Tribal consultation."

The full letter text and list of cosigners is available HERE.

In June, Senators Gallego and Cantwell led a group of their colleagues in a renewed push to enshrine the Roadless Rule protections into law through the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025.

Senator Gallego has been a leader on restoring the Roadless Rule since his time in the House of Representatives, where he first introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act in 2019.

Senator Cantwell has been the lead Senate champion of the Roadless Rule since it was overturned by the Bush administration in 2001. Senator Cantwell has repeatedly

introduced legislation to codify the Roadless Rule into law, including as early as 2001. Senator Cantwell was also a vociferous and persistent critic of the Trump administration's elimination of roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

9/12/25