Groups repeat request for more time, public hearings on roadless rule
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) As Americans are scrambling to take advantage of a final opportunity to oppose the repeal of the Roadless Rule, some organizations are asking the Trump administration for more time.
A little over a week ago, a dozen nonprofit organizations sent a letter to Joshua White, U.S. Forest Service Ecosystem Management Coordination acting director, requesting that the Forest Service extend the comment period on the decision to repeal the Roadless Rule to at least 120 days. In addition, the organizations are once again asking the Forest Service to host meetings to allow the public to testify on why they want or don’t want the Roadless Rule to remain.
The groups include Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center, Standing Trees, The Wilderness Society, Western Environmental Law Center and Wild Earth Guardians.
“This administration continues to ram through its radical, anti-public lands agenda, and it could care less what people have to say about it,” said Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians rewilding manager, in a release. “Secretary Rollins has already decided that politics is more important than listening to the public, and that is why there have been no community meetings, and ridiculously short windows to provide written comments.”
Rissien’s comment about the administration not caring is referring to the fact that on Aug. 20, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins issued a draft environmental impact statement and proposed rule to repeal the Roadless Rule, even though the Forest Service received more than 625,000 comments on the initial proposal and 99% of those were opposed. In addition to conservation organizations, the comments came from tribes, recreationalists, sportsmen, and several retired Forest Service employees, including four former Forest Service chiefs.
The Forest Service hasn’t always been so dismissive. Before the Roadless Rule was enacted in 2001, the Forest Service held 600 public meetings and allowed a comment period of more than 120 days. More than 1.6 million Americans submitted comments, most of which were in favor of the rule to prevent road-building on 58.5 million acres of remote Forest Service land that provides protection for wildlife and ecosystems and prevents the meager Forest Service budget from having to maintain more than the 386,000 miles of Forest Service roads that already exist. When the Roadless Rule was proposed, the Forest Service was carrying a maintenance backlog of more than $8 billion on its existing road system. The backlog hasn’t improved in 25 years.
Still, in June 2025, Rollins announced that she would rescind the Roadless Rule, calling it “overly restrictive.” She opened the initial 21-day comment period on the Friday before Labor Day weekend and refused requests to extend the comment deadline. After that, organizations petitioned to have the Forest Service hold public meetings, but the requests fell on deaf ears.
Two weeks ago, when the draft decision and environmental study was published, Rollins’ justification for her decision was that the wildfire risk needed to be managed in remote roadless areas. Many questioned the timing of Rollins’ announcement, saying she delayed it until the nation’s wildfires were at their peak to capitalize on Americans’ fears of wildfire.
Studies have shown that 84% of all U.S. wildfires are human-caused, and roads are the primary vector for human ignitions. A 2026 study in the journal “Fire Ecology” analyzed 32 years of wildfire data across all Forest Service regions and found a fourfold increase in the likelihood of wildfire starts in areas within 150 feet of roads compared to roadless areas. So building roads into roadless areas is likely to result in greater wildfire risk, not less.
This time, the comment period is 32 days, ending Sept. 21. So again, organizations are asking for an extension to 120 days, in addition to public hearings. The Forest Service has specifically requested comments that include data related to “the baselines and ranges of impacts” expected from the proposed rule. But groups say analysis of detailed factual and scientific information that cannot reasonably be completed and presented in only 32 days. But if the Trump administration stays true to form, their requests won’t be answered.
“The Trump administration is not affording the public a fair chance to have its voice heard on this massive rollback of environmental protections on our national forests,” said Earthjustice attorney Aaron Bloom in a release. “The Roadless Rule has long enjoyed bipartisan support and is one of our nation’s most important conservation measures to protect wildlife, clean water, hunting, fishing, and recreation and buffer against climate change. The public deserves more time to weigh in on how critical public lands should be managed now and into the future.”
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.