On August 8th the USDA announced that it will open a 30-day public comment period as it moves forward to rescind the Roadless Rule, a longstanding policy that protects millions of acres of backcountry national forest land from new road building and large-scale logging. When finalized, the proposal will remove protections from 45 million acres of national forests across the country.

Roadless Areas are one of the last backcountry experiences that are open for recreational use by a variety of users. Unlike Wilderness, Roadless Areas allow mountain biking as well as places where people hike, climb, fish, paddle, ski, hunt, and explore. Essentially, Roadless Areas are the wilderness that everyone can enjoy. And here in the Southeast, these backcountry experiences are rare, sought after by the people who want to escape in nature.

The current Draft Environmental Impact Statement is likely the final chance advocates of wild places will have to make their voices heard. Within the statement are three (3) proposals. As an organization, we support “No Action” alternative in the current DEIS. The other two alternatives are detrimental to Roadless Areas, particularly in the Southeast, which we will go into detail below.

We ask that you make your opinion heard. Submit a public comment to the USDA of your own. If you need help writing a comment, we have prepared sample text that you can use for your comment, and we encourage you to add personal details on why you do not want to rescind the Roadless Rule. Additionally, our friends at the Outdoor Alliance have made it easy to contact your lawmakers with an ask to protect the Roadless Rule. This form is prefilled with a comment, but again, take some time to add a personal element on why you feel it is important to protect the Roadless Rule, especially if your district or state has a Roadless Area you feel passionate about.

Take action today and support Roadless. 

And if you are unsure what this is all about, continue on below, where we take a deep dive into what’s at stake, provide links to great resources to learn more, and provide data on what actually happens in Roadless Areas so you can be knowledgeable on the topic.

The Roadless Rule is a USDA Forest Service designation created in 2001 to create protections of wild spaces within Forest Service Lands. Our Forest Service definition is “the Roadless Rule (officially the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule) is a U.S. Forest Service regulation that generally prohibits new road construction, road reconstruction, and commercial timber harvesting within designated Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) on national forest lands.” The rule allows traditional outdoor recreation (like hiking, biking, camping, and hunting), grazing, and specific projects meant to reduce wildfire risks or protect public safety. 

In short, Roadless Areas are wild, backcountry experiences that are open to a wide variety of outdoor enthusiasts. Experiences that are hard to come by in the Southeast, where large areas of public land do not exist. 

It is likely that you have experienced a Roadless Area and not even realized it, because unlike Wilderness Areas, Roadless Areas are not marked. Ever ridden Bull Mountain, the Pinhoti, or Mountaintown in North Georgia? Heartbreak, Star Gap, or Woods Mountain near Old Fort, North Carolina? Or perhaps Turkey Pen, Squirrel Gap, Pilot, or Laurel in Pisgah proper? All of these iconic trails are located either totally or partially in Roadless Areas. And that is just the great mountain bike experiences in our region’s Roadless Areas; it doesn’t account for all the other outdoor activities we all enjoy. 

If you want to dive into maps highlighting where these roadless areas are located, check out the resources provided by OnX (which also has great information about Roadless) as well as the map created by the Outdoor Alliance. 

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for rescinding the Roadless Rule evaluates the environmental effects of three alternatives; our preferred option is bold:

• Alternative 1 (no action) – maintain the existing Roadless Rule
• Alternative 2 (proposed rule) – rescind the Roadless Rule
• Alternative 3 (modified boundaries) – remove Roadless Rule prohibitions in roaded areas and the wildland urban interface but continue to manage Inventoried Roadless Areas outside of those areas under the 2001 Roadless Rule 

Read more from the Forest Service propsal at this link.   And here. 

If you read the press release, you will see that a large emphasis has been placed on rescinding the Roadless Rule to allow for necessary management for wildfire. And while wildfires are a significant issue, especially to our friends in the West, there is significant data that shows Roadless Areas are no more prone to wildfires than managed lands. 

The majority of wildfires are caused by humans (88%), and most wildfires (90%) start within a half-mile of a road. A separate analysis that spans four decades of satellite data found that Inventoried Roadless Areas have not burned at significantly higher rates or severity than roaded National Forest Lands, and that in the most recent decade, Roadless Areas burned at a slightly lower rate than forests with roads.

As we mentioned in the section above when defining what a Roadless Area is, the rule allows the Forest Service to take action for fire suppression. They are allowed to remove trees, conduct fuel reduction efforts, and even construct roads in case of imminent threat.

Another highlight from the USDA press release is the emphasis on Executive Orders centered around resource extraction and energy production. Roadless Areas were given protections for a reason: because they are valuable backcountry resources. 51% of USDA Forest Service Land is already managed for resource extraction. That is one of the main functions of our Forest Service, to manage resources. Roadless Areas make up 27% of the total land within our National Forests. 

Protecting these areas ensures habitat for wildlife, clean water for neighboring communities, carbon storage, and healthy ecosystems. 

These wild spaces have their own economic value outside of the natural resources that can be extracted from them. Earth Economics recently published a report on the economic impact of Roadless Areas that found these areas represent $24 billion of value annually to our economy.

Our National Forests are already home to an expansive network of roads, which the Forest Service is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of. Currently, there are 368,000+ miles of roads managed by the Forest Service, which accounts for 55% of the Deferred Maintenance budget. That is enough mileage to cross the Lower 48 States (2,800 miles) 131 times!

The Forest Service already cannot manage the road network they are currently responsible for. Building additional roads will further exacerbate the lack of funding and personnel dedicated to maintenance. 

The Forest Service has provided three (3) alternatives in the process. A no-action (preferred), recension, and a “modified boundaries” option. While the modified boundaries option might sound like a middle ground, for us in the Southeast, that option is essentially a full rescission of the Roadless Rule. 

Within our region, the National Forests are by and large categorized as wildland-urban interface. Only small slivers of current Roadless Areas would retain the protections due to the nature of our public lands being relatively small and close to population bases.

The original Roadless Rule, established by the Forest Service after years of formulation and more public comment than any other rulemaking up to that point, has received broad support. The process to develop the 2001 rule included 430 public meetings with 23,000 people. 1.6 million public comments were submitted, 90% of which supported roadless protections.

Support for Roadless Areas crosses the spectrum of interested parties who access National Forest Lands. It’s not just recreation groups; it’s Trout Unlimited, Back Country Hunters and Anglers, The Wilderness Society, and Sierra Club, just to name a few. Groups that have traditionally disagreed on so many topics agree that protecting the Roadless Rule is important.

This is an issue for all users, not just mountain bikers. 

Support the Roadless Rule. 

Contact your lawmakers. 

Submit a public comment. 

Submitting a comment to the Forest Service is a process. Make sure you are informed, provide context, and make the comment your own. Below, you will find example text and how to submit. If you’re not comfortable with the process, you can still make an impact. Use the Outdoor Alliance website to contact your lawmakers.

**Please note that these comments are public. Keep this in mind when you are writing your comment, as names and identifying information will be viewable by the public. 

Subject: Public Comment Supporting the “No Action” Alternative – Opposing the Rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule

To: USDA Forest Service Planning Team

Re: Notice of Intent to Rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (90 FR 42179)

Dear USDA Forest Service Planning Team,

As an active trail advocate, mountain biker, and member of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA), I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. I urge the Forest Service to select the “No Action” alternative, maintaining the vital protections provided by the 2001 Roadless Rule.

Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) protect intact watersheds, preserve natural landscapes, prevent harmful forest fragmentation, and safeguard irreplaceable backcountry mountain biking experiences.

[INSERT YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION HERE]

Example prompt: Share a specific memory, favorite local trail, or National Forest area that matters to you. (e.g., “As someone who regularly rides the backcountry trails in the Pisgah National Forest, these Roadless Areas offer a remote, high-quality riding experience that cannot be replicated on developed lands. Protecting these corridors ensures future generations of trail users can enjoy the same primitive, pristine environment.”)

Rescinding the 2001 Rule threatens to open these prized lands to road construction and resource extraction, risking the integrity of beloved non-motorized trail networks, increasing the spread of invasive species, and damaging the outdoor recreation economy that local communities rely upon.

The Forest Service should prioritize protecting these unique backcountry spaces. Please uphold existing protections and adopt the “No Action” alternative in the Environmental Impact Statement.

In addition to all the links provided above, we want you to be informed. Check out these additional resources to learn more.

• OnX Map – Great map and breakdown of the rule
• Outdoor Alliance Roadless Landing Page – Partners in advocacy
• Forest Service Map – shows what areas are affected