Protect Our National Forests from Proposed Roadless Rule Rescission

As your constituent, I urge you to act now to prevent the rescission of the Roadless Rule in our National Forests. The forests in the Western United States, particularly those within the Tongass National Forest, as well as forests across the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies, and the Appalachians, are valuable public lands, and the proposed nationwide rescission deserves your attention. These regions contain the largest Inventoried Roadless Areas in the country, encompassing millions of acres of intact wilderness and critical ecosystems. And while smaller forest systems may have less acreage directly designated under the 2001 rule, they would still be affected by the broader shift away from consistent national protections for undeveloped national forest lands. These forests protect headwaters, trout streams, wetlands, wildlife habitat, scenic views, and opportunities for hiking, hunting, fishing, rafting, camping, and solitude. These vast roadless landscapes also support essential migratory corridors and the outdoor recreation economies of countless communities across the West. The argument that new roads are needed to fight forest fires is specious. Approximately 85 percent of wildfires in the United States are human caused, so increasing roads and human access into remote forests can increase, rather than reduce, the risk of ignition. Research analyzing more than three decades of National Forest wildfire records found substantially higher ignition densities near roads than in remote areas. Although roads may sometimes help firefighters reach a fire after it begins, that benefit does not justify creating additional ignition sources, habitat fragmentation, erosion, and development pressure. Wildfire policy should prioritize defensible space and targeted fuel treatments near communities, along with strategic use of existing roads, rather than opening intact forests to industrial access. If the administration was truly interested in protecting resources and communities from fire, it would throw its weight behind the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act (HR582/S3609). Road construction also increases erosion and sedimentation, threatens clean water and cold-water fisheries, disrupts wildlife movement, spreads invasive species, and creates long-term taxpayer obligations for maintenance and repair. Large roadless forests provide connected habitat and store carbon in mature trees, dead wood, and soils. Logging and road building can release that carbon and reduce future storage. The Forest Service’s own original analysis recognized watershed protection, wildlife habitat, recreation, and intact ecosystems as central benefits of the Roadless Rule. Please make your constituents aware that the administration has proposed rescinding this protection and encourage them to submit public comments opposing the proposal through Regulations.gov before September 21, citing docket number FS-2025-0001 or RIN 0596-AD66. Please also support legislation that preserves the Roadless Rule, protects our national forests from unnecessary road building, and ensures that wildfire and forest-health treatments remain targeted, science-based, and protective of watersheds and habitat.