On June 23, 2025, the USDA announced a significant step in the Grand Reopening of our public lands with a decision to rescind the Roadless Rule. This move eliminates outdated restrictions, making way for responsible forest management and access across our nation’s national forests.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule has been a top priority for BlueRibbon Coalition since it was enacted by the Clinton administration in 2001. In fact, BlueRibbon Coalition was one of the first parties to file a lawsuit and secure an injunction against the rule in 2001. The Rule has faced extensive legal and regulatory scrutiny throughout existence, and BlueRibbon Coalition has taken numerous actions against it as referenced in the timeline below.
The announcement that the Rule will be rescinded is the culmination of a long fight. Underscoring it in our team’s D.C. trip earlier this year, we informed Congress and the Administration that one of our top priorities was to rescind the Roadless Rule. They listened.
However, our fight is not over. The Roadless Rule has been plagued by lawsuits since its inception and this action is sure to result in many more legal challenges from anti-access groups. We haven’t quit since 2001. With momentum on our side, we are ready to defend this action for access. Our lawyers are ready to continue this fight. So right now, we need your support more than ever.
The fight is just beginning. Help us get this across the finish line.
What were the consequences of the Roadless Rule? Why did we want it rescinded? And what's fact vs. fiction? Read on…
The Roadless Rule
The Roadless Rule essentially designated 59 million acres, or ⅓ of our National Forest system, as de facto wilderness through a regulation instead of an act of Congress. The Rule inventoried all roadless acres within the forests and prohibited road reconstruction, construction and timber harvesting. While the rule locked out ⅓ of our forests to most recreation, more importantly, it hampered the ability for the U.S. Forest Service to sustain the health and diversity of the nation's forests and grasslands. Roads allow recreationists to explore their public lands, brush to be cleared by machinery, and new wildfires to be fought more effectively.
Without the ability to improve or create routes through remote sections of our forests, the Roadless Rule contributed to the spread and destruction of catastrophic wildfires since it was enacted 24 years ago. Of the 58.5 million acres covered under the Rule, 28 million acres are in areas at high or very high risk of wildfire according to the USDA. The Roadless Rule restrictions have contributed to the 36 million acres of forest that have burned since the Rule was adopted, according to the American Forest Resource Council.
As Dr. Bob Zybach, one of the foremost experts on forest wildfire mitigation and reforestation, once said, “You take away logging, grazing and maintenance, and you get firebombs.” He went on to explain to The Smokey Wire, “The subsequent never-ending environmental lawsuits, new Wilderness and Habitat Conservation Plan creations, access road decommissionings, and fruitless public planning exercises have created tens of millions of acres of massive fuel build-ups and ‘let it burn’ policies that have decimated our forests.”
Forest wildfires cost local governments and their citizens a lot of money. When these roadless area tinderboxes ignite, they —obviously— don’t actually “conserve” the forest nor protect wildlife. And they completely inhibit recreation. Rescinding this rule will allow forests to be actively managed with every available tool for more flexibility to reduce wildfire risk and protect surrounding communities and infrastructure. It also reopens our forests to responsible recreation once again, so that more Americans can enjoy their public lands.
Fact vs Fiction
Our forests are going to be a spiderweb of paved roads!
Incorrect. Forest service roads, as you may have noticed, are not paved roads. They are more akin to trails, which our community loves to respectfully recreate on. We’re sure some of your favorite trails are actually forest service roads!
Current forest service roads which were once closed may now be opened and the USFS can repair / maintain them. Additional service routes may be created at the discretion of the USFS for wildfire mitigation, health and habitat purposes. It is not a private free-for-all.
They will never let motorized-recreation on forest service roads!
False. Forest service roads are publicly owned. Those which are not within a Roadless Rule designation are usually open to the public as long as it’s federal land. Again, we’re betting some of your favorite trails are forest service roads.
Some forest roads do require temporary closures. This might include restoration/revegetation, a dangerous hazard in the road which needs to be repaired, etc. BRC does support and respect closures for temporary purposes. But that’s also why we’re here, to ensure that our members' rights are protected on these public access roads.
This will open forests to logging which will decimate them!
Misleading and hyperbolic. 36 million acres of forests are already designated as wilderness, which prohibits all logging and most recreation. The Roadless Rule does not affect these designations.
A dying and burnt forest does not conserve a forest, protect wildlife, nor allow for recreation. Most wildfire and forest experts agree that fire prevention sometimes requires salvage logging, thinning and dead tree removal in order to protect the health of the ecosystem. We’ve supported many active forest management initiatives, we have also opposed them when they permanently curtail recreation access.
Our position always remains the same: does this permanently affect recreation? If it does— including logging proposals— BRC will fight to protect the rights of our members. These kinds of issues are best addressed on a case-by-case basis, relying on experts and locals on the ground, rather than adopting policies from Mt. High that actually have decimated forests and restricted access.
BRC & USDA are alone in wanting the Roadless Rule Rescinded!
False. Since the Roadless Rule came into effect in 2001, multiple states have opposed the rule, including: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.
BRC joined other recreation groups in multiple suits throughout the implementation of the law, including: California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, United Four Wheel Drive Associations, and the American Council of Snowmobile Associations. Our timeline below showcases the long history of opposition.
Timeline: BlueRibbon Coalition's Fight to Rescind the Roadless Rule
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