Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its intent to end the 2001 Roadless Rule. The rule, which was enacted during the Clinton Administration, establishes lasting protection for specific wilderness areas within national forests, prohibiting logging and road construction to protect habitat, limit erosion and sediment pollution in drinking water, among other things.

“We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins in a news release.

However, according to Wild Montana spokesman Alex Blackmer, the current rule already allows for “fire suppression and roadbuilding to prevent wildfires.”

“When you build more roads into roadless [areas], the odds of fires being started are much higher,” said Blackmer. “Making that tradeoff without meaningfully affecting our ability to manage forests will make the problem worse.”

The decision could affect 58 million acres of public lands. 

“For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action – prohibiting road construction, which has limited wildfire suppression and active forest management,” said Tom Schultz, USFS Chief, in a news release. “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities.”

Blackmer pushed back against Schultz’s claims.

“They’re using timber harvest and wildfire management as a Trojan horse,” said Blackmer. “Timber companies don’t particularly want this. They can achieve timber goals in already accessible stands of trees. And the Forest Service personnel on the ground don’t want this. They have an $8 billion maintenance backlog trying to maintain access to roads we already have.”

The 21-day public comment period runs through Sept. 19. Comments can be submitted here.

Following the public comment period, next steps include drafting an environmental impact statement to support rescission of the rule, another round of public review and more rulemaking, according to The Mountain Journal.

Do you think this is a good idea?