Attack on Roadless forests officially underway
Tongass National Forest, Alaska
Colin Arisman
USDA delivers formal notice, opens short comment period, to strip protections from 45 million acres
Washington D.C. (August 27, 2025) -- Today, the USDA announced its intent to strip protections from 45 million acres of National Forests by initiating its formal process to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule across the National Forest System including in the Tongass National Forest, one of the last remaining intact temperate rainforests in the world.
The Notice of Intent, which is expected to be published later this week, opens a paltry three-week long public comment period, an outrageously short time frame for the public to meaningfully comment on protections for forests in 39 states. This is an especially meager time frame compared to the development of the Rule, which marked one of the most extensive public participation efforts in history, bringing in more than 1.6 million public comments – 95% of which supported Roadless areas protections – and 600 public meetings.
In response to the news, The Wilderness Society issued the following statement:
“America's national forests give us clean air, water, wildlife, and the freedom for all to enjoy the outdoors,” said The Wilderness Society President Tracy Stone-Manning. “But now they are the latest target in this administration’s unpopular push to give away our lands to drill, mine and log. Gutting the Roadless Rule—which has protected our forests for 25 years—would be the single largest rollback of conservation protections in our nation’s history. Americans cherish their public lands and deserve leaders who protect them for future generations, not give them away to corporations that exploit them.”
-------
The 2001 Roadless Rule protected 58 million acres of national forest lands that provide exceptional recreation, wildlife and fish habitat, clean water and other important ecosystem services to all Americans, along with significant economic benefits. It was adopted at the end of the Clinton administration after the most extensive public involvement process in Forest Service history. The Bush administration attempted to repeal the Roadless Rule in 2005 but lost in the courts.
For more information, contact edenny@tws.org
