Trump administration advances plan to rescind 'Roadless Rule' protecting national forests

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Set us as preferred The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a formal proposal to rescind a decades-old rule that protects more than 44 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting, including about 4.4 million acres in California.The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is a 2001 bipartisan measure that established lasting protections for wilderness areas within national forests.But the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S.Forest Service, said this week that repealing the rule will give local agencies more authority over land management issues and help reduce barriers to wildfire risk reduction.

“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement, adding that “our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction.” The repeal will primarily impact California and nine other Western states, which are home to more than 95% of inventoried roadless areas, the agency said.California’s roadless areas span 21 national forests, including portions of the Angeles, Tahoe, Inyo, Shasta-Trinity and Los Padres national forests.

Climate & Environment The 2001 rule protects national forestland in California and many other states from road construction and timber harvesting.The announcement moves forward a plan unveiled by the Trump administration last year to open up roadless forests.It kicks off a 30-day public comment period leading up to a final decision.

It also comes amid orders from the president to ramp up domestic logging and timber production by 25%.Environmentalists say the move will destroy some of the nation’s last remaining undisturbed wildlands.

Research has found t...