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Taking a page from his own public land sale playbook, Mike Lee introduced an amendment late Tuesday night, June 9, to the Wildfire Prevention Act of 2025 (S.140) that will nullify the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and prohibit the implementation of a similar rule in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On Wednesday morning, the Senate Energy Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 to adopt the amendment and to advance the bill. The bill will now proceed to the Senate for a full vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The \u201cRoadless Rule,\u201d as it\u2019s informally called, prohibits new road construction and development on nearly 59 million acres of Forest Service lands across 39 states. According to a recent comment analysis conducted by the Center for Western Priorities, 99% of Americans oppose repealing the roadless rule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
S.140 was originally a bipartisan bill proposed by Sen. John Barasso to establish forest management requirements regarding wildfire management on federal lands. Whether rescinding the Roadless Rule would actually aid in wildlife reduction is debatable at best, but not supported by data. In fact, this 2020 study conducted by the USDA looked at two decades of data from forest areas with and without roads and found no correlation of roads maintaining forest health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cA lack of roads has not stopped fire prevention measures,\u201d the study states. \u201cFuel management activities in roadless areas have actually been more numerous on a per-square kilometer basis than elsewhere in the National Forest System, although activities in areas with roads cover larger areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
However, the Trump Administration has made it clear that removing the Roadless Rule is a top priority for federal land management.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThis outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity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,\u201d the USDA stated in a June 2025 press release. \u201cRescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The USDA also pointed out that the Roadless Rule \u201calso hurts jobs and economic development across rural America.\u201d Clearly, that\u2019s excluding the billions of dollars that hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation add to the US economy annually.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This priority to remove roadless areas is clear, as Rep. Harriet Hageman also introduced a bill in the House, H.R. 7695, which essentially accomplishes the same thing by repealing the Roadless Rule. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held hearings on the bill on May 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Only two states, Idaho and Colorado, have state-specific roadless regulations that would be exempt from this ruling. That leaves 37 states and over 45 million acres of habitat vulnerable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Developing roads in currently roadless areas can cause sedimentation and accelerated runoff in waterways, habitat fragmentation, wildlife disturbances, increased invasive weed spread, more hunting pressure, and a host of other concerning issues in some of the most fragile ecosystems that fish and wildlife depend on. You can read more on the impact of roadless areas in this recent report from Trout Unlimited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If you recreate in roadless areas or enjoy the fish and wildlife that benefit from them remaining intact, consider reaching out to your senators through the White House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and make your voice heard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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