On Monday the Trump administration announced the repeal of a rule that has been in place for over 20 years, prohibiting road construction, mining, and logging in undeveloped national forests. The decision, justified by the need to better manage fire risks, opens up nearly 59 million acres (approximately 24 million hectares) of federal forests to new industrial activities, a move that has been vigorously opposed by environmental organizations.

The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the US Forest Service, said the change would allow for more local and proactive management of the land, particularly in states such as Utah and Montana, where 60% of forests are currently subject to the restrictions of the Roadless Rule. In force since 2001, this iconic Clinton-era regulation was intended to preserve the country's last remaining large tracts of intact forest, covering about 30% of the land managed by the Forest Service.

The announcement was made in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a meeting of the Western Governors' Association. "With the repeal of this rule, we will return to common-sense forest management to ensure our forests are preserved for future generations," Rollins said at a press briefing. She went on to say that "this poorly designed rule prevents the Forest Service from thinning and cutting trees to prevent fires," claiming that the average area burned each year had doubled since the rule was introduced.

President Trump is thus continuing his efforts to dismantle environmental regulations that he considers obstacles to industrial development. In 2020, his administration had already exempted Alaska's Tongass Forest, the country's largest national forest, from the "Roadless Rule," a decision that was overturned by President Joe Biden in 2023.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham strongly contested Rollins' interpretation. "Climate change is the leading cause of worsening wildfires," she said, to applause from the audience.

Reactions from environmental groups were swift. Earthjustice, one of the leading environmental advocacy groups in the US, condemned the decision. "The Roadless Rule has protected 58 million acres of our wildest forests from clear-cutting for more than a generation. Now the Trump administration wants to throw those protections overboard to allow the timber industry to reap huge profits from unlimited logging," said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for land, wildlife, and oceans. "These lands belong to all Americans, not the timber industry," he concluded.