Proposed Repeal of the Roadless Rule Threatens Wildlife, Outdoor Recreation and Wildfire Resilience
Media Contacts
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Allison Guy
Communications Manager, North American Policy
The Nature Conservancy
Email: allison.guy@tnc.org
On August 18, 2026, the Trump administration announced a proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. For the past 25 years, the Roadless Rule has protected nearly 60 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land from commercial development. This proposal would remove these protections from 44.7 million acres of national forest land across the country.
In response to this news, Brent Keith, the federal lands policy team lead for The Nature Conservancy, issued the following statement.
Roughly 30% of our national forests and grasslands are protected under the Roadless Rule. These areas, which are home to some of the most intact forests in the United States, serve as vital habitat for wolves, grizzly bears, salmon and many more wildlife species.
The proposal claims that repealing the Roadless Rule would enable forest management practices and wildfire fighting efforts in roadless areas. In reality, roadless areas are already regularly treated with prescribed fire and thinning to improve their resilience to wildfire and other disturbances. Developing roads and commercial activities in roadless areas is more likely to increase, not decrease, the likelihood of a wildfire, given that roads make these areas more susceptible to human-caused wildfire ignitions.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would place additional financial and personnel burdens on the Forest Service, which has faced significant staffing cuts that have decreased the agency’s ability to deliver essential management activities. Building new roads without a plan or the budget to maintain them is not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
The Roadless Rule is also extremely popular with the public. Millions of people enjoy hiking, hunting, fishing and other activities on these lands every year. Leading up to the rule’s enactment in 2001, a record-breaking 1.6 million Americans wrote public comments weighing in on the rule, with more than 95% in support of roadless protections.
Rescinding this rule would threaten wildlife, forests and the outdoor recreation economy while increasing wildfire risk across some of the most ecologically important forests in the country. We urge the administration to reverse course.
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