What the Roadless Rule means for wilderness
August 21, 2026-
This week, the Trump Administration released a new proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement that would fully rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The 2001 rule limited road building and commercial timber harvests on 45 million acres of National Forest. Some reporting on this has created confusion about which jurisdictions and levels of protected lands this would apply to, so you may be wondering what this rule change would mean for wilderness areas.
The short answer is that this rule change won’t alter protections for designated wilderness areas. The 1964 Wilderness Act that created wilderness designations very clearly laid out a set of strict protections for them. Once a wilderness area is designated through an act of Congress, its boundaries and protections can only be altered by another act of Congress, not through administrative rule changes or executive orders. The Roadless Rule, on the other hand, was an administrative rule adopted by President Bill Clinton. As such, it could always be changed by a future administrative rule, such as the one proposed by the Trump Administration. Recently we’ve seen similar vulnerabilities with National Monuments that were created by executive order being shrunk through executive order. It is the same thing that made passing The Wilderness Act 60 years ago such a monumental feat of bipartisan cooperation that has made it so durable: the 268 votes by Members of Congress needed to alter it. In those 60 years, Congress has never voted to remove protections for a designated wilderness area.
While the proposed Roadless Rule change won’t alter protections for designated wilderness areas, that doesn’t mean it won’t impact them. Many Inventoried Roadless Areas surround designated wilderness, creating buffers of lands with limited human impact which help to insulate wilderness from encroaching development. Of course, these designations and their boundaries mean nothing to roaming wildlife and flowing streams, and together wilderness and roadless areas create important continuous, unfragmented habitat. Inventoried Roadless Areas are also considered for potential future wilderness designations. If this proposed rule change goes through, millions of acres surrounding wilderness areas, acres which might join them in the future, could be opened to road building.
The public process that helps to govern decision-making on our public lands still plays an important role in the future of roadless areas. A 30-day public comment period opened this week, during which groups and individuals can weigh in on the proposed rule change. If the Roadless Rule is rescinded, future management plans for specific roadless areas, which are largely decided at the local level, will also include public comment. We have the pleasure of working with many USFS staff, from local ranger districts to Washington D.C., who are passionate and dedicated to continuing to care for our wild places. We are grateful knowing that they are still on the ground working for these lands.
While it’s easy to feel discouraged and frustrated by the news headlines of the day, we believe that our wilderness and public lands are a legacy greater than any one administration or point in time. Completing designated wilderness areas has always been at the heart of our mission, and we work every day to continue investing in their promise for future generations. The greatest protection for our wild places is how they inspire and touch the lives of people from diverse walks of life, creating wilderness advocates on both sides of the political aisle and a broad coalition of support who speak up when they are threatened.
