Administration Seeks Repeal of Roadless Rule, Says it Will Reduce Wildfires

JEFFERSON COUNTY, WA — Hike up into Lena Lake and The Brothers Wilderness, or follow Road 2361 up the South Fork of the Skokomish River toward the Wonder Mountain Wilderness, and you’ll pass through just a few of the Olympic National Forest’s Inventoried Roadless Areas. Originally designed to protect large swathes of undeveloped public lands, and passed with bipartisan support, the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on over 44 million acres of National Forest, including two million acres in the state of Washington and 65,000 acres in the Olympic National Forest. 

On August 20, the Trump administration continued its attempts to rescind the rule, releasing a proposal and a corresponding Environmental Impact Statement. The administration will take public comment on its proposal until midnight on September 21. In a press release, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins cited the need to remove barriers to treatments that “improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk” and promised the change would return decision-making power to local forest managers. 

Multiple governors praised the administration’s push to remove what are seen as onerous regulatory burdens, made by politicians in the nation’s capital rather than those with boots on the ground experience. And the press release points out that proposed changes would only remove roadless area designations, not mandate road construction or timber harvesting. 

Conservation groups, however, worry these changes will open up forests to logging and other kinds of development. In an interview with King 5, Tom Uniak, Executive Director of Washington Wild, said the roadless rule “might be the most important protection for our forests and watersheds that many people just don’t know about.” 

Nationwide, the millions of acres subject to the Roadless Rule protect sources of public drinking water, provide habitat for threatened and endangered species, encompass beloved hiking trails and create numerous other social and ecological benefits for the public. Most of the Olympic National Forest’s Inventoried Roadless Areas border designated Wilderness areas, where all forms of mechanized equipment are banned, including the Colonel Bob, the Mount Skokomish and the Buckhorn. There is an additional stretch between Highway 101 and Olympic National Park, just south of Port Angeles, protected under this rule. Locally, these thousands of acres act as a buffer between the pristine forests of Olympic National Park and the homes and businesses along Highway 101. They cover lands adjacent to the Duckabush and Dosewallips Rivers and tributaries home to multiple species of trout and salmon.

“To hike, explore, climb, hunt, fish and sleep in the forests and mountains of the Olympic National Forest has unending value,” said Quilcene resident Daryl Dietrich. “I feel like I find myself, my confidence and my peace when I walk miles into our mountains. The thought of areas like Lena Lake being marred by our lack of creativity to find other solutions for forest management is jarring.” 

Residents of Port Townsend might also feel the impacts of changes to the Roadless Rule since the city pulls its drinking water from the Big and Little Quilcene Rivers, both of which have headwaters located in Inventoried Roadless Areas. A 2025 study from the University of Washington and Conservation Science Partners found that the Roadless Rule protects the drinking water supply of over 25 million Americans. The study showed that construction can cause sediment buildup in lakes and rivers and introduce chemicals that leech into the water supply. 

Since its inception, the Roadless Rule has remained a sore spot for those who find its one-size-fits-all approach misguided. In its own press release, the American Forest Resource Council, a regional trade association that advocates for sustained yield timber harvests on public lands, said that the 25-year old policy is too rigid to deal with America’s changing forests. They noted that only five percent of Inventoried Roadless Areas have received hazardous fuels reductions since 2014, and in the last ten years wildfires in the west have only gotten worse. 

While the administration points to greater flexibility for local managers without the Roadless Rule, there is still a question of capacity within the Forest Service’s workforce to meet any new construction or maintenance demands. In its original record of decision, the USDA recognized that, even in 2001, “the size of the existing forest road system and attendant budget constraints prevent[ed] the agency from managing its road system to the safety and environmental standards to which it was built.” 

Staffing and budget issues have not improved since then, worsening with the Trump Administration’s own cuts. From January 2025 to January 2026, the Forest Service lost 16 percent of its staff, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. And from January to September 2025, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an organization made up of current and former federal wildland firefighters, found that hazardous fuels reduction work across US Forest Service lands was down 38 percent compared to the previous four years. 

There is also a question of who will benefit from the rules' rescission. Forest Service Chief Tom Shultz, the first chief with no prior experience in the agency, was previously employed by the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, a trade association that represents companies who purchase timber from the federal government. The Guardian found that he was critical of the Roadless Rule as far back as 2000, noting that “it’s going to be very difficult to actually generate revenue from state trust lands that could be encompassed within a roadless designation.” Research from Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy non-profit, revealed that several companies Shultz used to represent as a timber lobbyist stand to financially benefit if the rule is repealed. 

While wildfire risk continues to grow, especially in areas of increased development known as the Wildland Urban Interface, Uniak noted that the science says more roads lead to more fires, not less. The National Interagency Fire Center backs this up; according to their research, 85 percent of wildfires are human caused and the majority occur within 50 meters of roads. 

Gathering from open comment periods, public opinion remains extremely supportive of the rule nationwide. During the open comment period in September 2025, analysis by the Center for Western Priorities revealed that 99 percent of comments expressed opposition to changing the Roadless Rule. And information from Washington Senator Maria Cantwell’s office shows that since it was enacted, the Roadless Rule has received over 2.5 million public comments, with more than 95 percent in support. Cantwell’s office says that the current public comment period is rushed, stating that the original rule was shaped by more than 600 public meetings and that “the current administration has held no comparable public meetings.”

“Being immersed in our local wilderness is the greatest form of freedom, inspiration, spirituality and calm that I have found,” said Dietrich, who grew up in Swansonville, and expressed “immeasurable gratitude” for the wild places in the Olympic National Forest. “I think there are better ways to support our local economy and mitigate wildfires than allowing unfettered access to development in our public lands. Humans flourish in wild places and keeping nature healthy keeps us all healthy.”

Members of the public have until Monday, September 21 to submit comments on proposed changes to the Roadless Rule by going to https://www.regulations.gov, identifying docket number FS-2025-0001 or RIN 0596-AD66 and following the instructions for sending comments. Alternatively, hardcopy letters sent by mail must be submitted to the Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108, Washington, DC 20250-1124.