The United States Forest Service under the Trump administration is attempting to eliminate the Roadless Rule. If successful, this would be a massive victory for motorized public land users and the traditional land uses that rely on existing roads.
How the Roadless Rule Closes Roads and Creates De Facto wilderness
The Roadless Rule is responsible for closing thousands of miles of existing roads through the travel management process that have been used by the American people for generations. It is a tool used by environmental interests to create de facto wilderness protections that are later implemented in wilderness evaluations and wilderness legislation. It is the beginning step on U.S. Forest Service land to establish vast wilderness areas that prohibit use by ordinary Americans.
The Roadless Rule has no basis in federal law whatsoever. There is no federal law that enables the U.S. Forest Service to establish designated inventoried roadless areas. The U.S. Forest Service assumed this power by perverting unrelated federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act and executive orders like EO 11644, recently repealed by the Trump administration.
Typical propaganda surrounding the Roadless Rule argues that only 30% of national forest land is roadless and that eliminating the Roadless Rule will enable extractive and exploitative industries, similar to what was recognized in the 1992 biological assessment published by the U.S. government in response to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The same biological assessment refers to a prospering economy as detrimental to the environment.
However, none of this is true.
Why the 30% Roadless Claim Is not true
There are a total of around 760,000 miles of roads on 640 million acres of federal public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service. Nearly every single one of these roads has been documented by the federal government. On average, those roads disturb just over one acre per mile.
U.S. Forest Service land has approximately 380,000 miles of roads that provide access to 193 million acres. That means that all roads on National Forest land disturb less than 0.3% of all national forest land. Therefore, 99.7% of national forest lands are roadless. The same goes for the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, where more than 99.9% of the land is roadless.
The 30% claim pushed by special interests is untrue and specifically refers to lands that have been designated as an Inventoried Roadless Area through a formal administrative process. The 30% claim fully rejects the actual reality on the ground. Not all roadless areas are designated IRAs by the federal government, and IRAs are only applicable to U.S. Forest Service land. The amount of actual IRA designations doesn’t begin to describe the overwhelming majority of land that is roadless.Eliminating the Roadless Rule and Executive Order 11644, and establishing federal regulations that fully recognize the rights and duties of state governments, should be our top priority.
Read the Proposal and Submit Comments to the Forest Service
Read the new proposal and submit your comments directly to the U.S. Forest Service using the widget below.
Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation
- Date posted
- September 11, 2026
- Document type
- Proposed Rule
- Agency
- Agriculture Department, Forest Service
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is extending the public comment period for the proposed rule titled Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation, published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2026 (91 FR 53827).…
Supporting documents
These are the detailed analyses and appendices the agency is asking the public to review.
2001 Roadless Rule Rescission_Proposed Rule_Tribal Summary Impact Statement2001 Roadless Rule Rescission_Proposed Rule_Economic Analysis (RFA and CBA)2001 Roadless Rule Rescission_Proposed Rule_Draft EIS Volume III Appendix Agency Letters2001 Roadless Rule Rescission_Proposed Rule_Draft EIS Volume II Appendix State Maps2001 Roadless Rule Rescission_Proposed Rule_Draft EIS Volume IFederal Register documents
Official notice and docket pages. Use these for citation and filing, not as a substitute for the supporting documents above.
Federal Register notice: Special Areas; Roadless Area ConservationFederal Register PDFRegulations.gov document: 2001 Roadless Rule RescissionRegulations.gov docket: 2001 Roadless Rule RescissionWhat this document covers
Reference numbers
AGENCY:
Forest Service, Agriculture (USDA).
ACTION:
Proposed rule; extension of comment period.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is extending the public comment period for the proposed rule titled Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation, published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2026 (91 FR 53827). The notice of proposed rulemaking invited public comment on the proposed rule, the associated draft environmental impact statement, and cost benefit analysis, which were published simultaneously. The original comment period is scheduled to close on September 21, 2026. The Department is extending the comment period by 15 days to allow the public additional time to submit comments. The new deadline for comments is October 6, 2026.
DATES:
Comments on the proposed rule published August 20, 2026 (91 FR 53827), must be received by October 6, 2026.
ADDRESSES:
Comments, identified by RIN 0596-AD66, should be sent via one of the following methods:
- Electronically (preferred): Through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://www.regulations.gov, identified by docket number FS-2025-0001 or RIN 0596-AD66. Follow the instructions for sending comments; or
- Mail: Hardcopy letters must be submitted to the Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108, Washington, DC 20250-1124.
Comments should be confined to issues pertinent to the proposed rule, should explain the reasons for any recommended changes, and should reference the specific section and wording being addressed, where ( printed page 57842) possible. All timely comments, including names and addresses when provided, will be placed in the record and will be available for public inspection and copying. Comments may be viewed on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. In the search box, enter “RIN 0596-AD66” and click the “Search” button. For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available for public viewing. Please note that if your comment includes a standard confidentiality disclaimer—like the automatic notices added to some emails—we will still treat your comment as public and may make it available for anyone to read. A summary of this rule may be found through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joshua White, Acting Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, at the following phone number: 202-205-0650. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may call 711 to reach the Telecommunications Relay Service and provide the phone number of the person named as a point of contact for further information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
On August 20, 2026, the Department published in the Federal Register a proposed rule titled Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation at 91 FR 53827. The proposed rule would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule by removing and reserving 36 CFR part 294, subpart B. The notice of proposed rulemaking invited public comment on the proposed rescission, the associated draft environmental impact statement, and cost benefit analysis.
The original comment period is scheduled to close on September 21, 2026. The Department is extending the comment period by 15 days, until October 6, 2026, to provide interested persons additional time to review the proposed rule and supporting materials and submit comments. The Department will consider all timely comments received by October 6, 2026, in developing any final rule and supporting analyses.
Stephen Alexander Vaden,
Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2026-18648 Filed 9-10-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P
In addition to eliminating the Roadless Rule, the administration is also currently asking for public comments regarding new travel management rules.
Public comment
Opens the official government form. Your comment is not filed until you submit it there.