Trump Admin Removes Logging Protections From 58 Million Acres of National Forest

Another Trump administration proposal is taking aim at public lands — this time through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In a Monday announcement, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said she would rescind the “Roadless Rule,” which protects 58.5 million acres of national forests from road construction, logging, and other resource development.

Initially passed in the Clinton administration in 2001, the longstanding federal policy ensures that millions of acres of forest — mostly in Alaska and Western states — have been safeguarded against logging and mining. In the announcement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that removing the rule would allow for “fire prevention and responsible timber production.”

Like many other actions aimed at public lands in recent months, the latest move comes after a March executive order from Trump calling for the “immediate expansion of American timber production.” The 58.5 million acres protected under the Roadless Rule includes the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which is not only the nation’s largest National Forest, but also one of the last remaining temperate rainforests in the world. 

Conservation and public land advocates lambasted the move as yet another attack on public lands from the Trump administration. Since taking office in January, President Trump has repeatedly called for increased mining and drilling on federal lands, including in national parks and national forests. This latest proposal comes amid an ongoing fight in Congress over proposals to sell off public land.

A Boon for the Timber Industry?

Revoking the Roadless Rule would fast-track the Tongass National Forest and millions more federal acres for private logging, timber production, and mining.

In the USDA press release, Secretary Rollins said that rolling back the rule would allow for better forest management: “It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires.”

However, the Roadless Rule already provides “exceptional backcountry recreation and includes exceptions for access to inholdings, mineral leases, and timber projects that reduce fire risk,” according to Kaden McArthur, director of policy and government relations at Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

Building more roads for resource development also has larger implications for these wilderness areas, said Drew Caputo, VP of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at EarthJustice, a nonprofit focused on the environment. Wildfires are nearly four times more likely to start in forest areas that have roads, according to a three-decade study done by EarthJustice that includes all eight contiguous U.S. Forest Service regions.

“The Trump administration now wants to throw these forest protections overboard so the timber industry can make huge money from unrestrained logging,” Caputo said in a written statement.

The Tongass National Forest isn’t susceptible to forest fires. Yet the rollback of the rule would leave 92% of the forest open to logging and mining, with no immediate benefit for wildfire prevention, according to the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

“Repealing the Roadless Rule isn’t about improving forest management — it’s about expanding a development network that threatens intact landscapes hunters, anglers, and wildlife can’t afford to lose,” McArthur states.

The USDA did not respond to GearJunkie requests for comment on Tuesday.