White House to Reverse Rule That Protects 59M Acres

The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Monday. The "roadless rule" adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2001 has long chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where national forests sprawl across vast, mountainous terrain and the logging industry has waned. The rule impeded road construction and "responsible timber production" that would have helped reduce the risk of major wildfires, Rollins said at the annual meeting of the Western Governors' Association, per the AP. "This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation's forests," Rollins said.

Scientists say that worsening wildfires are driven by a combination of climate change that warms and dries out forests, less logging, and decades of fire suppression that has allowed fuels to build up. The roadless rule has affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide, or about 59 million acres, according to the US Department of Agriculture, the agency over the Forest Service. State roadless-area rules in Idaho and Colorado supersede the boundaries of the 2001 roadless rule, according to the USDA, meaning not all national forest land would be affected by a rescission. Rollins' announcement on Monday was a first step in a process to rescind the roadless rule, to be followed by a formal notice in coming weeks, the Agriculture Department said in a statement.

The roadless area change marks a sharp turnaround from the Biden administration, which sought to do more to restrict logging and protect old-growth forests. Environmental groups, who want to keep restrictions on logging and road-building for places such as Alaska's Tongass National Forest, criticized the possibility of rolling back the protections. "Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breathe and drink, abundant recreational opportunities [that] millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife, and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons," Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director for the Wilderness Society, said in a statement on the USDA's plans. (More here.)