Press Release

June 24, 2025

Trump Administration Roadless Rule Repeal Will Broaden Attacks on National Forests

Thousands of acres in National Forests in the Midwest protected by the Roadless Rule will be impacted by this flawed decision

On Monday, June 23, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the Administration’s intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects 58 million acres of national forests from commercial logging. The Roadless Rule has consistently had strong public support and set a record for the most public comments on rules.

“Repealing the Roadless Rule to make way for logging in some of the most wild and protected parts of our national forests sacrifices America’s natural heritage,” said Andy Olsen, Senior Policy Advocate at the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Increased and deregulated logging, including in these special and protected areas of our national forests is a retreat to the failed past of intense forest logging that did immense harm to wildlife, water, recreation, and forests.

“We will join with diverse partners from across the country to oppose this bad policy decision.”

National forests in Midwest states contain roadless areas protected under the 2001 rule, mainly in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. The acreage involved may be modest compared to larger western states and Alaska, but they include thousands of acres of special places to enjoy the outdoors. The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is well-known, but there are important roadless areas right here in the Midwest – the Ottawa National Forest, the Shawnee National Forest, the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and beyond. National forests belong to everyone and, under the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, are to serve more uses than just for timber, such as wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, and recreation.

The announced repeal of the Roadless Rule follows other actions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service that threaten the integrity of our National Forests, such as:

• Increasing timber (logging) targets by 25%.
• Declaring a fictitious “emergency” in national forests and claiming that emergency logging is the solution.
• Stripping environmental review and protections from commercial logging for over 112 million acres in national forests.
• Firing thousands of Forest Service employees and prioritizing those remaining on increasing commercial logging, resulting in less planning and oversight of commercial logging in national forests.
• Reducing protections under the Endangered Species Act.
• Undermining planning for climate change while boosting incentives to log mature and old-growth trees that best capture and store atmospheric carbon that accelerates climate change.