The fight for our forests is on.

In a move that surprised exactly no one, Trump's Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in June that it intends to revoke the Roadless Rule.

This 25-year-old regulation preserves large, remote, and pristine swaths of our national forests – including the four in North Carolina – by banning the construction of new roads within their boundaries.

The proposal would remove protections for 58.5 million acres of public lands nationwide, enabling industrial-scale logging, road building, and other extractive activities in fragile ecosystems. North Carolina alone boasts 176,000 acres of roadless area, forestland that is crucial for habitat, recreation, and flood protection.

The Rule, adopted in 2001, is popular with the public and has always enjoyed political support on both sides of the aisle. When the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was developing the Rule in 1999, it conducted the most extensive public participation in federal rulemaking history, holding over 600 public meetings across the country and collecting more than 1.6 million public comments – 95% of them supporting strong roadless area protection. The rule prevented new road construction in large, ecologically intact areas of national forest designated valuable for their unfractured habitat, biodiversity, and recreational popularity.

Three pillars supported the development of the Rule: Conservation, Economics, and Recreation.

Conservation

As the impacts of climate change reshape the world around us, the preservation of large areas of forest is critical for habitat conservation and carbon capture. Forests in roadless areas provide habitat for more than 1,600 threatened or endangered plants and animals, many of which require unfractured habitat to thrive. Roadless areas protect habitat for fish, especially threatened and endangered species, keeping water quality high, and water quantity in check through their natural filtration systems, processes highly valuable to humans as well. National forests contain the drinking water sources for over 60 million Americans, and roadless areas are critical to the water quality protection and preservation of those sources.

Economics

For decades, USFS has struggled to maintain 370,000 miles of existing roads in national forests; and no wonder – that’s twice the miles managed by the Federal Highway Administration! In 2001, with a backlog of roughly $8.4 billion in deferred maintenance and reconstruction costs, USFS was not interested in building new roads in expensive places. This rule was designed to offer some relief from their growing budgetary woes.

As of 2022 – even with the Roadless Rule in place – USFS reported a maintenance backlog of $4.85 billion for transportation projects alone. One might reasonably question the economic responsibility of repealing the rule and saddling a beleaguered federal agency with expensive and unnecessary road construction and maintenance projects – especially one that's facing a reported budget cut of 65% in 2026 and 30% staff reduction thanks to the "Big Ugly Bill."

Recreation

One of the most amazing things about this country is our access to beautiful, wild natural places. Our National Parks might have been "America’s Best Idea," but our national forests are pretty incredible, too. Since 2001, protected roadless areas have offered abundant outdoor recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, camping or other activities, helping to support a multibillion-dollar outdoor recreation industry.

If you’ve been out in the western part of North Carolina to do some hiking, biking, paddling, or climbing, chances are you were enjoying parts of our roadless areas. Without roadless protections, we risk not only the destruction of these places, but the opportunity for future generations of nature lovers and outdoor thrill seekers to experience what it truly means to be in the wild.

The Bottom Line

The Trump administration can’t revoke Roadless Rule protections without going through an administrative process that requires public input. That’s where you come in.

Right now, you can urge your U.S. representatives and senators to support the Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would enshrine the administrative Roadless Rule into federal law. Use our form to send a message supporting this law!

There's more: In the coming weeks, we expect the USDA to release a Notice of Intent (NOI) to revoke the Roadless Rule, which will open up a public comment period. We want you, and all your friends and family, to be ready for that announcement. We want to flood the agency with comments supporting Roadless Rule protections. Right now, you can use our talking points and this fact sheet to get familiar with the topic and share with your networks, and we'll let you know via email and our social media when the announcement drops.