Trump Administration Moves to roll Back Forest roadless Rule, Sparking Wildfire Debate
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is poised to initiate a process that could undo the 2001 Roadless Rule, a measure protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forest land, in a move the administration argues will aid wildfire suppression efforts. However, forest ecologists and fire scientists warn that increased road construction could paradoxically increase the risk of wildfires, challenging the administration’s rationale.
The Gifford Fire, the largest blaze in California this year, ignited near a road – a pattern supported by research indicating wildfires are significantly more likely to start within 50 feet of a roadway. This underscores a essential tension at the heart of the debate: roads provide access for both people and fire.
For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has been a point of contention, restricting road construction and limiting certain types of forest management.According to a press statement released Wednesday,U.S. Forest service chief Tom Schultz asserted the rule has “frustrated efforts to manage the national forests for multiple uses, including wildfire risk reduction.”
A 2023 study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Habitat examined the impact of road prohibitions on forest health in several western states, including Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The study concluded that “speculation that eliminating road prohibitions would improve forest health is not supported by nearly twenty years of monitoring.”
The USDA did not respond to requests for comment regarding thes findings.
A History of Conflict Over Roadless Protections
The Roadless Rule has long been a source of conflict between states, industry groups, and environmental organizations. During his first term,President Trump previously stripped roadless protections from Alaska’s tongass National Forest – the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest – before the Biden administration restored them in 2023.Environmental groups now argue the current effort to rescind roadless protections is primarily motivated by a desire to increase timber production, citing a recent executive order signed by President Trump calling for a 25% increase in national timber output.
[Image of the Tongass National Forest, home to spruce, hemlock and cedar trees, and closed to logging due to the 2001 Roadless Rule. Credit: Elissa Nadworny/NPR]
However, former Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, who served under President George W. Bush during the initial implementation of the Roadless Rule, believes rescinding the protections outside of Alaska wouldn’t necessarily unlock significant timber resources. “The areas that were left roadless, were left roadless for a reason,” he said. “Because they didn’t have the timber in there and because it was expensive to do road construction.”
Bosworth suggested the administration could leverage existing exceptions within the Roadless Rule to address wildfire risk.The rule allows for the removal of smaller-diameter timber if it improves habitat or reduces the risk of “uncharacteristic wildfire” – more severe blazes than the area would typically experience. “If we really focused on that,we’d be probably providing more timber on accident than we do on purpose,” he stated.
Roads and Fire Suppression: A Complex Relationship
While roads can contribute to ignitions, they also offer benefits for wildfire suppression. A 2021 study conducted in Oregon found that fires in roadless areas tended to burn more land, while those near roads were typically contained more quickly due to faster detection and access for firefighters.
“Fires that start near roads tend to be controlled more quickly and smaller for obvious reasons of rapid detection and access [for firefighters],” explained Matt Thompson,a former research forester at the Forest Service and current vice president of wildfire risk analytics at Vibrant Planet. He added that roads can also serve as fuel breaks, creating barriers to slow fire spread.
The Trump administration has identified 28 million acres of roadless areas deemed at high or very high risk of wildfire, but has not publicly specified their locations. Thompson believes a “surgical approach” – strategically building roads in areas where they could protect communities or enhance firefighter safety – could be beneficial, but cautioned, “The question is, will we have the resources and can we get that done in time so it’s not just a new risk sitting out there?”
The public comment period on the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule concludes on September 19, setting the stage for a possibly significant shift in the management of America’s national forests.
