America’s Last Wild Places at Risk

What Is The Roadless Rule and How To Take Action

Just last month, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced her intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule — the policy that prohibits new road construction and most development on nearly 59 million acres of Forest Service land. Now that rollback is officially out for public comment, and we’ve got 21 days to speak up.

If you care about wild places — and the critters that live in them — this is one of those moments where raising your voice really matters.

Submit your comment on the Roadless Rule rollback

Deadline: September 19th, 2025

Click Here

The Roadless Rule has been a cornerstone of conservation for almost a quarter century. It keeps some of our most intact forests off-limits to bulldozers, chain saws, and mining rigs, while still allowing for ecological management and community safety projects. These aren’t far-off, inaccessible corners of the map. They’re the forests we hike through, bird in, and rely on for clean water, carbon storage, and wildlife habitat. Once protections like this are gone, it’s nearly impossible to get them back.

Some of the United States’ most legendary forests fall under the purview of the Roadless Rule — most notably the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the country’s largest national forest and one of the world’s largest remaining coastal temperate rainforests. It also encompasses places like the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina and Sequoia National Forest in California, which have remained intact for wildlife and for people to enjoy.

Bald Eagles, Marbled Murrelets, Cerulean Warblers, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and Sooty Grouse are just a few of the species that depend on unfragmented, mature forests. Habitats have dwindled under the pressures of development, fire and drought, making the intact forests protected under the Roadless Rule even more vital for birds, wildlife and millions of people in nearby communities who depend on public lands for recreation, open space and a connection to nature.

The Forest Service first proposed the Roadless Rule in 1999 because of escalating costs of road building and maintenance, as well as continued controversy over how to manage the last remaining unprotected mature and old-growth forests. When the Roadless Rule was finalized in 2001, it reflected one of the most extensive public engagement processes in federal land management history. More than 1.6 million people submitted comments, the vast majority urging protection. The pitch from the current administration is that this rollback is about wildfire prevention and timber harvests. But the facts tell a different story. Roadless areas actually see fewer fires than roaded lands, because it’s human activity near roads that sparks most wildfires. And under the current rule, forest managers already have tools to thin trees, restore habitat, and reduce fuel loads where it’s needed. What this really looks like is a broad-brush approach that treats 59 million acres — an area larger than half of Montana or twelve New Jerseys — as if every acre is the same. They’re not.

The real concern is about timber harvest. There are already about 20 million acres designated under existing plans that could support logging. Why not start there? Instead, this proposal sweeps away protections for every roadless acre, opening them not just to logging but also to mining and other extractive uses. And while a good timber cut can sometimes benefit wildlife in the short term, a mining operation is another story altogether — leaving behind scars that take generations to heal, often shutting the public out in the process. The Appalachians are a sobering example of how long that damage lasts.

Could there be places where more active management makes sense? Of course. But this isn’t a scalpel, it’s a chainsaw. Rescinding the Roadless Rule is an all-or-nothing move that jeopardizes some of the last best places we have to find true quiet. These roadless areas are scarce — and scarce things are valuable. They’re worth more than the short-term profits that will be carved out of them if we let this go through.

The good news is, public input works. The Roadless Rule itself was created after one of the largest public comment processes in U.S. history, with more than 1.6 million people weighing in, the vast majority in support. We have that same chance now. For anyone who’s ever wandered into the woods and felt the gift of being away from it all, this is the time to speak up and make sure those places are still there for the next generation.

Submit your comment on the Roadless Rule rollback

Deadline: September 19th, 2025

Click Here

America’s forests have stood for centuries — not as distant, inaccessible places but as landscapes that anchor our lives: sentinels of clean rivers, lakes and streams, thriving wildlife and the bond between people and place. If you’ve walked a roadless trail or heard a hidden songbird in the woods, your voice is part of that legacy.