Roadless Rule: Privatizing vast areas of natural forest would be devastating

The love Americans have for public lands was apparent in the fight to prevent the sale of millions of acres of public lands in the budget reconciliation law this summer.

People across the country, regardless of geography or political ideology, made their voics heard and blocked that attempt to sell off our national heritage. But that victory wasn’t the end of the fight, and right now, some are working hard to hand over millions of the wildest acres of our national forests to private interests.

This summer, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to revoke the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The name of the policy might not be familiar to you, but the results are. For more than two decades, it has protected nearly 60 million acres of our national forests from industrial development. That’s meant for more than 20 years, Americans have been able to hike, hunt, fish and camp in the heart of our public lands, often at no charge, free from the pollution, noise and disruption that comes from industrial development. If the Trump administration gets its way, that could all be lost.

Related: Trump’s environmental policies are reshaping everyday life. Here’s how.

Opponents of the Roadless Rule have suggested that this push to repeal is being done to respond to the wildfire crisis, but in reality, this “solution” could actually increase the threats presented by wildfires. New research shows that wildfires are four times more likely to start in areas developed with roads than in undeveloped, roadless forest tracks. Even the U.S. Forest Service’s own research has undercut the argument that repealing the Roadless Rule would have any positive effect on fire management. That could be especially consequential for Minnesota after wildfires in May 2025 burned more than 48,000 acres — nearly four times the annual average.

For Minnesota, privatizing vast swaths of national forests would have huge consequences. There are about 2.8 million acres of National Forest lands in the state, of which 62,000 are inventoried roadless areas in the Chippewa and Superior National Forests. Those roadless areas enable outdoor recreation, which supports hundreds of jobs and contributes more than $40 million in visitor spending to local economies annually from the Chippewa alone. Opening these places up to development would devastate this part of our economy.

And those negative effects wouldn’t be limited to Minnesota. The Tongass National Forest is America’s largest national forest, encompassing the majority of the southeast Alaska panhandle. Over 9 million acres of ancient old-growth forest is protected by the Roadless Rule and would be put at risk if it is rescinded.

In addition to harboring great natural beauty and iconic wildlife, scientists believe that retaining the intact roadless areas of the Tongass is a “key element” in sustaining robust salmon runs, and they can also be key to securing a stable climate for our future. Vastly expanding industrial activities in national forests across the country would destroy invaluable recreation areas, fragment and demolish wildlife habitat, and threaten drinking water sources. It could even worsen climate change. 

Related: Why the federal government is making climate data disappear

Despite what opponents of wild public lands might argue, repealing the Roadless Rule is an economic loser with real world consequences for average Americans. The Forest Service cited economic commonsense as one of the primary justifications for creating the rule. However, building and maintaining roads has significant costs even in the easiest terrain. Building more roads would exact even greater costs on local communities that face harm from negative impacts to their drinking water, outdoor economies and property values. 

A lot of things have changed over the last quarter-century, but two things remain steady: the importance of preserving public lands, and public support for the Roadless Rule. In 2001, more than 600 public hearings were held nationwide over 18 months, and 1.6 million Americans weighed in to call for protection of these forestlands.

This summer, millions made their voices heard, and the effort to sell off our natural heritage outright was squashed for now. Now, the administration is taking a new angle and coming after our national forests. We need those same millions — hunters, anglers, hikers, family vacationers and the public at large — to demand better for our public lands. 

Margaret Levin is state director of the Sierra Club Minnesota, and Lois Norrgard is the national field organizer for the Alaska Wilderness League.

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