The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced on June 22 that the Trump Administration will repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule put in place to protect inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest Service from road construction, reconstruction and certain timber harvesting activities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System will be opened up with roads to allow for fire prevention and responsible timber production. Over four million of those acres are in California.

“Rescinding this rule is a deliberate attempt to erode conservation efforts under the guise of addressing wildfire threats. If Republicans have their way, California will lose protections for about 4.4 million acres across 20 national forests—from the beauty of Tahoe to the majestic landscape of the Klamath. Our public lands and natural spaces are some of our nation’s greatest gifts and I will do everything I can to protect them.” – U.S. Senator Alex Padilla

Rollins and the USDA did not state how the rule would be rescinded or how long the process of reversing the federal rule should take. President Clinton established the rule 24 years ago to preserve the ecological and social values of undeveloped areas.

In a USDA news release, the agency said the rule “contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands. Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.”

Dusty LaChapelle, an engineer with the Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD), told CalMatters his department already can access remote areas in the Lake Tahoe basin, including with helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Many of the fires LVFPD fights are human-caused, and often by a campfire.

“We can get a hold of a lot of the fires already without having to build more roads,” LaChapelle said. “Personally, that’d be hard for me to justify going in there to punch in more roads for the possibility of a fire happening there.” 

In the Lake Tahoe Basin, there are approximately 40,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas, and a repeal of the Roadless Act could remove protections from areas like Freel Peak and Star Lake, and other key sections of the Freel/Dardanelles backcountry, one of the few places in Tahoe with no roads. It also impacts 22 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail and habitat that’s home to whitebark pine, the Sierra Nevada red fox, and the headwaters of the Upper Truckee.

“Roadless areas are sources of clean water and some of the best hunting and fishing opportunities on the planet. Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the Forest Service, once described conservation as ‘the application of common sense to common problems for the common good.’ Let’s hope common sense prevails and the Administration reconsiders its proposal.”  – Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited

Trout Unlimited said that, for more than 20 years, “the Roadless Rule has conserved backcountry public lands and waters while providing flexibility for the Forest Service to steward these high-value landscapes through active management that improves forest health and allows for natural resource development. These multiple-use areas sustain native trout and salmon, support wildlife with unfragmented corridors and offer irreplaceable backcountry hunting and angling experiences.”

For more information on the Roadless Act from Outdoor Alliance, visit https://www.outdooralliance.org/roadless.