USDA Announces to Rescind Roadless Rule
This past June, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (IRA). The rule currently protects about 58.5 million acres of national forest lands across 42 states. Its intent is to safeguard undeveloped forests from most new road construction and certain forms of industrial development. In doing so, it preserves wild lands, protects watersheds and wildlife habitat, reduces the financial burden of road maintenance, and maintains recreation and scenic values for future generations.
When it was finalized in January 2001, the Roadless Rule followed the largest public involvement process in the history of the USFS at that time, generating roughly 1.6 million public comments, with about 95% in support. According to the Outdoor Alliance’s GIS Lab, roadless areas today encompass more than 58 million acres of public land, which include 8,743 climbing routes and boulder problems, 782 miles of whitewater, over 26,600 miles of trails, and nearly 19,600 miles of mountain biking opportunities.
If rescinded, nearly 60% of Utah’s national forest land—about 4 million acres—would be lifted from Roadless Area protections and could potentially be opened to future development, logging, or mining. Here in Utah and the Wasatch, this could affect popular climbing areas such as the south side of American Fork, Left Fork of Joe’s Valley, Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons, White Pine boulders in LCC, Ogden Valley, Logan Canyon, and the Greater Wasatch.
If you care about public lands—or are an active user of them—we urge you to submit a comment. Let’s make history again and aim to surpass the 1.6 million comments submitted during the original 2001 rule making.
Additional information:
Outdoor Alliance Roadless Rule at Risk and Map