What Is the Roadless Rule? The Public Lands Protection That Keeps Forests Wild and Outdoor Recreation Cheap

What the Roadless Rule actually does (in real-life terms)

Here’s what “roadless” means: these are forest areas without a network of permanent roads—often the last big blocks of unbroken habitat in a region. The 2001 Roadless Rule sets national standards for the federal government and US Forest Service that protects undeveloped forest land from new road development and destructive activities like logging and oil-and-gas drilling. 

The Roadless Rule is an extremely popular and widely supported policy in the United States and is hailed as one America’s most successful conservation measures. When it was first enacted, 1.6 million Americans weighed in—95% in support of this measure—through more than 600 public hearings held nationwide. 

Despite misconceptions, the Roadless Rule does not make forests off-limits to the public. The rule only targets roadbuilding and destructive corporate development. Public lands and national forests belong to people like you and me, and the Roadless Rule gives everyday people access to beloved public lands and forests for recreation and other public benefits.

Nearly 58 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forest land have been preserved by the Roadless Rule’s nearly 25-year-old commitment to keep these old growth forests intact, and these lands are enjoyed for free to millions of people every year. Today, roadless areas protect:

• • 11,337 climbing routes and boulder problems
  • More than 1,000 whitewater paddling runs
  • 43,826 miles of trail
  • 20,298 mountain biking trails

In California, about 4.4 million acres—around 21% of California’s ~21 million acres of national forest—are considered roadless. The state of California controls about 3% of our state’s forest land, while the federal government controls 50% of it. 

California’s roadless acres at stake are spread across iconic regions like:

• • Coastal forests in areas like Big Sur and the northern part of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), known as the “Redwood Belt”
  • Alpine conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada surrounding areas like Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park
  • Southern California’s “wild backyards” in Cleveland, San Bernardino, and Angeles National Forests

Why the Roadless Rule matters to you

California’s roadless national forest lands protect things you actually feel in your everyday life—cleaner water, fewer wildfires, affordable weekends outside, and wildlife you can see.

• • Cleaner water: Protecting watersheds from roads helps keep water sources and downstream drinking water quality safe. The US National Forests are the largest source of municipal water supply in the nation, serving over 60 million people in cities including Los Angeles.
  • Fire safety: Multiple studies have found that roads increase the risk of wildfires by 4x—and the fires that spark by roads tend to spread faster. State emergency management officials estimate that about 60% of California’s wildfires burn on federal land. 
  • Affordable outdoors: Roadless areas preserve beloved, remote, wild outdoor spaces for outdoor activities like camping, hiking, fishing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and recreation.
  • Wildlife & habitat: California roadless areas are critical habitats for many threatened and endangered species like California condors, grizzly bears, wolves, and native salmon and trout.

Bottom line: This policy is about protecting the everyday benefits Californians get from national forests—and public comments like EnviroVoters’ petition are how you put those local, personal stakes into the official record. 

What’s happening now: Trump administration’s attack on the Roadless Rule

The Trump Administration has been moving through a formal process to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. This legal process requires them to publish notices, develop environmental analysis, and invite public input before finalizing a decision. 

So why does the Trump administration want to undo the Roadless Rule? 

While Trump administration officials cite “wildfire risk” as a justification, studies show that wildfires are four times more likely to start in areas with roads and that more than 90% of all wildfires nationwide occurred within a half mile of a road.

The real reason the Trump administration wants to undo the Roadless Rule is so that they can profit off our public lands for logging, oil drilling, and industrial development. The proposal to roll back the Roadless Rule comes at the heels of other administrative actions like attacks on the Antiquities Act. Trump is trying every angle possible to open up public lands to destructive and extractive development. A public lands sell-off could make Donald Trump’s big polluter donors even richer—while worsening climate change, destroying recreation areas, accelerating the risk of wildfires, destroying wildlife habitats, and threatening our drinking water. 

Why public comment matters: public comments become part of the official record, and agencies must consider substantive input—especially when it’s specific, local, and evidence-based.

Sign EnviroVoters’ petition here to stand up against the Trump administration and protect our public lands.