US proposes rescinding Roadless Rule protections for national forests

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which currently bars road construction and industrial logging on more than 57 million acres of national forest, including 9 million acres of Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says roads are needed to prevent overgrown, disease-ridden forests from becoming wildfire tinderboxes, and a public comment period runs through Sept. 21.

Researchers cited in the reporting found wildfires between 1992 and 2024 were four times more likely near roads than in roadless areas, and another study found over 90% of fires occurred within half a mile of a road — directly undercutting the stated rationale. Indigenous representatives and environmental groups say the real goal is opening protected land to timber, oil, gas, coal and mineral development, consistent with administration executive orders promoting Alaska resource extraction.

The Tongass holds 20% of the carbon stored in all U.S. national forests and habitat for roughly 400 wildlife species. Trump exempted the Tongass from the Roadless Rule in his first term amid 500,000 public comments, 96% opposed, before Biden reinstated the protections.

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