The U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule and open up 45 million acres of roadless areas in our National Forests to road-building, commercial logging, mining, and drilling. I just submitted my public comment below. You can too via the Federal Register now through Friday, September 19, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
September 17, 2025
Dear U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Rollins,
I am writing to submit a public comment on the Notice of Intent to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (aka Roadless Rule).
As a hiker, outdoor business owner, and American, I care deeply about our nation’s public lands and National Forests. National Forests protect our nation’s vital resources, like clean water and air and fish and wildlife habitat, and they support both climate resilience and the $1.2-trillion outdoor recreation economy.
Here in New England, the Roadless Rule protects 260,000 acres (more than one-fifth) of the White and Green Mountain National Forests, forests that are vital to our region’s environmental and economic future.
Nationally, the Roadless Rule protects 45 million acres of federal forests and grasslands. It is extremely popular with strong bipartisan support from Americans of all backgrounds. During its initial 2000 public comment period, the U.S. Forest Service received 1.6 million comments, the most for any rule in the nation’s history at the time. Of those public comments, more than 95% were in favor of the Rule and its roadless protections.
The Rule retains broad support today from communities, businesses, tribes, sporting groups, individual outdoors people, and millions more. For good reasons.
Roadless areas protect:
- water, soil, and air quality,
- municipal water supplies for millions of Americans,
- the health and resiliency of important ecosystems and biodiversity,
- valuable fish and wildlife habitat,
- migration corridors and habitat connectivity,
- recreational opportunities to hike, bike, hunt, fish, rock climb, and ski,
- and the more than $1-trillion outdoor recreation economy, which accounts for 2.3% of America’s GDP, 3.1% of U.S. employees, and 5 million American jobs
Instead of rescinding the landmark Roadless Rule and opening our intact forests to destructive road-building, commercial logging, mining, and drilling, we should strengthen the Rule and extend existing protections to all Inventoried Roadless Areas.
Protecting roadless areas also helps mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. Roadless areas capture more than 15 million tons of carbon per year in the American West, 43.4 million tons in the Interior West, and almost 4 million tons in the East. They also are among the most wildfire-resilient landscapes andamong the best tools for addressing wildfires.
Repealing the Roadless Rule would be shortsighted and cost our nation financially and environmentally now and in the future. If we want to invest in our public lands and National Forests, let’s address the U.S. Forest Service’s $10.8 billion backlog for deferred maintenance on the roads and bridges already in our National Forests.
I urge you to act in the best interest of the American public and our invaluable public lands and retain the Roadless Rule and its protections. I believe revoking this rule is reckless, unnecessary, and deeply harmful to our nation and its natural resources.
If the U.S. Forest Service’s mission truly is “Caring for the Land and Serving People,” you will retain the Roadless Rule and protect and conserve our National Forests and natural resources now and for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Alicia MacLeay
Rome, Maine 04963
