Intact landscapes, essential to protect biodiversity, need your help now! Undeveloped lands in National Forests provide habitat for more than 1,600 threatened or endangered plants and animals, including grizzly bear and Canada lynx. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001 (Roadless Rule) is hailed as one of America’s most successful conservation measures. The Roadless Rule protects undeveloped, road-free places on our national forest by placing these areas off limits to logging and road construction, with limited exceptions. In addition, Travel Management rules in place for over 50-years manage motorized use across more than 430 million acres of public lands, protecting access, wildlife, and clean water.
The Roadless Rule and Travel Management Rule are essential conservation measures that are under attack! On August 20, the USDA Forest Service published a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Rule that would end the Roadless Rule, kicking off a 45-day which ends October 6, 2026. Just days after moving forward with the repeal of the Roadless Rule, the administration is now taking aim at gutting the Forest Service Travel Management Rule. Comments on The Travel Management Rule are due even sooner, on September 23.Together, these back-to-back actions mark a significant escalation in the administration’s broader effort to dismantle longstanding public lands protections.
The Roadless Rule:
- was adopted with massive public support to protect 58.5 million acres of roadless national forest land in 39 states
- was the result of years of work and public input. The public comment period set a record with 1.6 million public comments submitted. 95% supporting strong roadless area protection
Roadless Areas:
- contain all or portions of 354 municipal watersheds, serving as the source of drinking water for more than 60 million Americans
- protects 8,659 climbing routes and bouldering problems, 768 miles of whitewater paddling runs, and 25,121 miles of trails
The Travel Management Rule:
- Travel management provides the basic rules of the road for public lands. It identifies where cars, trucks, dirt bikes, ATVs, and other motorized vehicles may travel, and where they may not.
- Travel management protects motorized access by creating clear, legal, dependable routes. It also ensures that hikers, hunters, anglers, horseback riders, mountain bikers, families, and wildlife are not pushed aside by unmanaged vehicle use.
Motorized Free-For-All
- The current Travel Management Rule bans off-road vehicle use on Forest Service roads and trails unless there’s a special exception. Under the proposed rule, federal roads and trails would be open to Jeeps, crawlers, dirt bikes and other all-terrain vehicles, unless specific protections are carved out after extensive negotiations and legal action.
- Repealing the Roadless Rule opens millions of acres to road development and motorized use. Proposed changes to the Travel Management Rule could remove guardrails that would limit this development.
- Colorado and Idaho that have their own Roadless Rules that are not currently being repealed. Proposed changes to the Travel Management Rule threaten millions of acres in Colorado and Idaho that are not protected as roadless areas.
You Can Help
We must let the government know about the massive support for the Roadless Rule and the common-sense Travel Management Rule. Your voice can make a difference. Please take a few minutes to submit a comment in support of wildlife, clean water, recreation, and so much more! The Travel Management Rule comment period ends September 23, 2026 and the Roadless Rule comment period ends October 6, 2026. PLEASE ACT NOW!
Travel Management Rule Talking Points
- Express your support for the current Travel Management Rule and concern about the proposal to move toward an “open unless closed” approach.
- Share what you think is important about the current Travel Management Rule: (e.g., safer, quieter experiences for non-motorized users, better-maintained roads and trails for all visitors, importance of intact landscapes for biodiversity).
- Bonus: share experiences you have enjoyed on non-motorized trails in National Forests.
- Comments are due September 23, 2026.
Roadless Rule Talking Points
- Express your support for the rule and opposition to the rescission.
- Share what you think is important about the Roadless rule (e.g., protecting biodiversity, backcountry recreation, clean drinking water, wildfire ignition risk from roads).
- Bonus: share experiences you have enjoyed on roadless lands in National Forests (especially places outside of Colorado and Idaho).
- Comments are due October 6, 2026.
Resources
- Writing unique comments is the best approach. The Forest Service counts form letters and petitions count as a single comment regardless of how many people signed on (hopefully they at least note the number of signers).
- Writing Comments That Stick (pdf)
- Travel Management Rule Fact Sheet (pdf)
- Articles about proposed changes to the Travel Management Rule in the Colorado Sun and WyoFile.
- National Roadless Rule Fact Sheet (pdf)
- Opinion piece about the Roadless Rule Recision in WyoFile.
- Roadless.org is a great resource if you would like help composing more in-depth comments on the Roadless Rule.
- Recording of Rocky Mountain Wild’s Roadless Rule Virtual Comment Writing Workshop in September 2025.
- Interactive Map of At-Risk Species in National Forest Roadless Areas
- Conservation value of national forest roadless areas (2020) – Peer reviewed scientific payer discussing importance of roadless areas for ecological representation and ecosystem services
- Roads & Fire Risk Analysis (2025) (pdf) – Latest research proving roads increase wildfire risk—essential data to counter government and industry claims
- Congressional Research Service Report – Non-partisan analysis of the Roadless Rule’s history, legal framework, and policy implications.