Good news! Bravo President Trump! The federal government owns way too much land anyway! This is not about "pristine" or "untouched" "national forests" as some media outlets want us to believe.
It appears most news media spread disinformation about this latest move by President Trump! According to US Department of Agriculture this rule change serves primarily to improve forest management and to prevent wildfires! This seems to make a lot of sense!
Yes, maybe a large number of wildfires are human caused (incl. arsonists), but better forest management can reduce the damage caused by wildfires by removing the fuel.
"The Trump administration is proposing to rescind the Roadless Rule, a 25-year-old policy that bars development like road construction and logging on nearly 45 million acres of national forest land, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday. ...
In a letter published last fall, more than 30 leading forest science researchers from across the country refuted the administration’s claims. The researchers found over the last three decades across all Forest Service lands, the density of wildfire ignitions was lowest in wilderness and roadless areas. Their analyses also showed that the highest number of wildfire ignitions came from land in close proximity to roads. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, nearly 85% of wildfires are human-caused. .."
"Today [8/18/2026], Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind in its entirety the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a one-size-fits-all restriction that has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work across large swaths of America’s national forests. ...
For 25 years, the 2001 Roadless Rule restricted road construction and limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas. Today, that includes more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The rescission is intended to prioritize local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs. ...
“Active forest management is not an option. It’s essential,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “More than 40% of inventoried roadless areas, primarily in the West, have high or very high wildfire hazard potential. And only 5% of those areas have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014. At the same time, more than a quarter of these lands—11.3 million acres—are already near existing roads. Acting now, thoughtfully and decisively, is the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighboring communities.” ..."
Trump administration moves to repeal Roadless Rule "Nearly 45 million acres of national forest land could be opened to logging and development."
USDA acts to remove roadless rule restrictions that exacerbate rising wildfire risk (original Trump administration news release)
