Notice2025-16581
Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 29, 2025
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentForest Service
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is initiating an environmental impact statement (EIS) and rulemaking concerning management of inventoried roadless areas on approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands, including in Alaska. The proposed rule would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule) (66 FR 3244, 36 CFR Subpart B (2001)), which prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas, with limited exceptions. State-specific roadless rules for Idaho and Colorado at 36 CFR 294 Subparts C and D will be retained and are excluded from this notice. Rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule is intended to return decision making for road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas to local officials, in conjunction with Forest-level land management planning. As directed by Executive Order 14153: Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential, the proposed rule will expressly exclude the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule. The EIS will evaluate the impacts of the proposed rule rescission and study alternatives for roadless area conservation on National Forest System lands, including the Tongass National Forest, in the context of multiple use resource management. USDA invites written comments on alternatives or effects and on relevant information, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposal.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 166 (Friday, August 29, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 166 (Friday, August 29, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42179-42182]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16581]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System
Lands
AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture (USDA).
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is initiating an
environmental impact statement (EIS) and rulemaking concerning
management of inventoried roadless areas on approximately 44.7 million
acres of National Forest System lands, including in Alaska. The
proposed rule would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule
(2001 Roadless Rule) (66 FR 3244, 36 CFR Subpart B (2001)), which
prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting
in inventoried roadless areas, with limited exceptions. State-specific
roadless rules for Idaho and Colorado at 36 CFR 294
[[Page 42180]]
Subparts C and D will be retained and are excluded from this notice.
Rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule is intended to return decision making
for road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in
inventoried roadless areas to local officials, in conjunction with
Forest-level land management planning. As directed by Executive Order
14153: Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential, the
proposed rule will expressly exclude the Tongass National Forest from
the 2001 Roadless Rule. The EIS will evaluate the impacts of the
proposed rule rescission and study alternatives for roadless area
conservation on National Forest System lands, including the Tongass
National Forest, in the context of multiple use resource management.
USDA invites written comments on alternatives or effects and on
relevant information, studies, or analyses with respect to the
proposal.
DATES: Comments must be received in writing by September 19, 2025. The
proposed rule, accompanied by a draft EIS, is expected by March 2026,
along with a request for additional public comment. The final rule,
EIS, and record of decision are expected to be released in late 2026.
ADDRESSES: Additional information, including the eventual publication
of the EIS and record of decision, can be found on the following
website: <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless">https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless</a>.
Comments must be submitted via one of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronically (preferred): Through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal, <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, identified by docket
number FS-2025-0001. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Hardcopy letters must be submitted to the Director,
Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108,
Washington, DC 20250-1124.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Kinder, Acting Director,
Ecosystem Management Coordination, at the following phone number: 202-
205-0650. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech
disability may call 711 to reach the Telecommunications Relay Service
then provide the phone number of the person named as a point of contact
for further information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Current Status of Inventoried Roadless Areas
Today, inventoried roadless areas total approximately 58.2 million
acres, or about 30 percent of all National Forest System lands. The
2001 Roadless Rule applies to approximately 44.7 million acres of
National Forest System lands, including about 9.3 million acres within
the Tongass National Forest. The 44.7 million acres exclude
approximately 9.3 million acres in Idaho and 4.2 million acres in
Colorado, which are under state specific roadless rules. Current areas
are reflected on national maps at the Forest Service Roadless Area
website (<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless">https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless</a>).
More than 95 percent of inventoried roadless areas managed under
the 2001 Roadless Rule (outside of Colorado and Idaho) are in ten
Western states, including (from largest inventoried roadless area
acreage to smallest): Alaska, Montana, California, Utah, Wyoming,
Nevada, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. Sixty-three
percent are forested areas (with at least 10 percent canopy cover).
Congress has included approximately 1.3 million acres (or 2.8 percent)
of inventoried roadless areas managed under the 2001 Roadless Rule in
the National Wilderness Preservation System.
While they are referred to as `roadless', because of the history of
their inventory and designation, there are thousands of miles of
existing roads within lands designated under the 2001 Roadless Rule,
including National Forest System roads as well as county, state, or
other ownerships. About half of these lands are within 1 mile of a road
and 31 percent are within 0.5 miles of a road (13.3 million acres).
Between 1984 and 2024, 13 percent of inventoried roadless areas
(5.5 million acres) experienced high or moderate severity wildfire. The
occurrence of moderate- to high-severity fire in inventoried roadless
areas has increased in recent decades, especially since 2000,
consistent with trends throughout the National Forest System.
Currently, forty percent of lands within inventoried roadless areas
have a high or very-high wildfire hazard potential, ranging from 5
percent in the Eastern Region to 60 percent in California. About 23
percent (10.2 million acres) of inventoried roadless areas managed
under the 2001 Roadless Rule are within the wildland-urban interface
(WUI), areas where human development intermixes with the wildland,
based on the definition of WUI set out in the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511(16)). An additional 4.8 million
areas are within one mile of the WUI, totaling about 35 percent of
these inventoried roadless area acres.
The 2001 Roadless Rule Final EIS predicted that extensive fire
reduction work would not be needed within inventoried roadless areas
for at least 20 years. In the 24 years since that analysis, the area
encompassing the WUI has increased alongside increased insect and
disease and wildfire activity throughout the National Forest System,
including within inventoried roadless areas. Insect and disease and
wildfire activity, especially within the WUI, affects important
resources, neighboring infrastructure, and communities. Additional
information is available at the Forest Service Roadless Area website
(<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless">https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless</a>).
Relationship of the 2001 Roadless Rule to Land Management Planning and
Project-Level Decisions
The relationship between regulations, land management plans, and
national forest projects is of particular importance. A land management
plan, developed under the National Forest Management Act and the
Planning Rule at 36 CFR 219, provides a framework for future project
analysis and decision making. All land management plans conform to
existing laws and regulations and are administratively changed as
needed to conform to new statutory and regulatory requirements (36 CFR
219.1(f) and 219.13(c)).
The 2001 Roadless Rule did not amend, revise, or compel amendment
or revision of any land management plans (36 CFR 294.14(b) (2001); 66
FR 3273); however, the Roadless Rule's provisions supersede the plan
components for inventoried roadless areas applied through individual
land management plans. The Forest Service planning directives (Forest
Service Handbook (FSH) 1909.12, Chapter 24, updated in 2015) require
land management plans to treat inventoried roadless areas as a type of
designated area, with the option to also identify these areas as unique
geographic areas or management areas in the plans. Plans may also
include additional plan components for inventoried roadless areas if
they are compatible with the restrictions of the applicable roadless
rule. Within land management plans, inventoried roadless areas
currently overlap on some national forests with other management areas,
such as core habitats, research natural areas, alpine areas, or areas
managed for backcountry recreation where there are expected to be low
[[Page 42181]]
levels of development, including timber harvest and road construction.
For example, 3.1 million acres managed under the 2001 Roadless Rule are
also managed as recommended wilderness, and 6.5 million acres are
managed as backcountry.
All site-specific project decisions must be consistent with land
management plans. Any site-specific impacts on inventoried roadless
areas and other resources must be analyzed, including National
Environmental Policy Act compliance prior to a decision. Project
decisions must comply with applicable Federal and State laws, such as
the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act,
National Historic Preservation Act, and the Wilderness Act.
2001 Roadless Rule Implementation
Amid legal challenges to the 2001 Roadless Rule and to provide for
consistent application, exceptions for specific activities in
inventoried roadless areas (294.12(b) and 294.13(b)), were reviewed and
authorized by the Secretary and Forest Service Chief until 2012. In
2012, certain exceptions were delegated to the applicable Regional
Forester. Since 2018 all exceptions have been delegated to the Regional
Forester. Approval requires review and documentation, including maps
and justification. The use of exceptions has been limited, and the
majority have been for forest stewardship purposes.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
Given changing resource conditions and shifts in policy priorities,
the Department believes that the ``one-size-fits-all'' approach to
roadless area management under the 2001 Roadless Rule is no longer
appropriate and proposes to use local land management planning
processes to administer inventoried roadless areas. Rescinding the 2001
Roadless Rule would provide discretion for local land managers to
tailor management, as appropriate, to local land conditions.
Under the current Administration, the USDA has refocused policies,
programs, and resources on increasing rural economic opportunity,
decreasing Federal regulation, and streamlining Federal government
services. Specifically, this deregulatory action is proposed pursuant
to Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,
to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens. In Executive Order 14225,
Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production, and Executive Order
14154, Unleashing American Energy, the President declared that the
United States' national and economic security are currently threatened
by our Nation's reliance upon foreign timber, energy and mineral
production, and that it is imperative for the United States to take
immediate action to facilitate domestic production of these natural
resources to the maximum possible extent. As such, USDA is examining
regulations that pose undue burden on production of the Nation's timber
and identification, development, and use of domestic energy and mineral
resources. This action is also being proposed in accordance with
Executive Order 14153, Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource
Potential, section 3(c), which directs that the Secretary of
Agriculture ``shall reinstate'' the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule (85 FR
68688) which exempted the Tongass National Forest from the 2001
Roadless Rule.
As resource conditions and policies have evolved over time, it is
now evident that the blanket, national approach taken in the 2001
Roadless Rule unnecessarily and adversely limits exercise of management
discretion. The flexibility to respond to local land and resource
conditions is paramount.
Conditions within and adjacent to National Forest System lands have
dramatically changed over the twenty-four years since the 2001 Roadless
Rule was published and are expected to continue to change, including
the expanding wildland-urban interface; growing impacts of extreme
wildfire, drought, and insect and disease infestations; and continuing
deferred maintenance needs on National Forest System roads and trails.
Management flexibility is needed for the Agency to achieve its multiple
use conservation mission, including timber production, recreation,
wildfire suppression, and fuel reduction treatments. These needs are
magnified by the emphasis on domestic timber and energy production on
Federal lands and deregulation policies reflected in Executive Orders
14192, 14225, 14154, as well as Secretary's Memorandum 1078-006,
Increasing Timber Production and Designating an Emergency Situation on
National Forest System Lands. The USDA is cognizant that the
President's recent Orders have significantly changed the context in
which the USDA Forest Service administers these lands for the benefits
of all Americans. Local decision making and active land management
benefit not only the communities that rely on national forests for
jobs, natural resources, open spaces, forage, and clean water, but all
citizens who utilize the multiple use attributes of national forests.
Given these national policy priorities and changing conditions, the
Department has determined the 2001 Roadless Rule is no longer the best
approach to managing inventoried roadless areas within the National
Forest System. Managing inventoried roadless areas to maintain their
roadless character through a national rule no longer facilitates the
maintenance of the long-term health and productivity. A national rule
adds administrative burden and does not efficiently support multiple
use management of National Forest System lands. This action seeks to
reinstate a reliance upon the flexibility of the local land management
planning process. The proposed rule responds to the need for national
forests to take swift and immediate action to reduce wildfire risk and
help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure. It would allow
local managers, as deemed appropriate and consistent with land
management plans, to build roads and implement active forest management
practices (for example, timber sales and thinning) in inventoried
roadless areas. Combined with the complex social and resource issues,
the litigation and legislative history surrounding inventoried roadless
area conservation demonstrates that while differences in opinion seem
inevitable, various active management options responding to changing
local land conditions are available where needed.
Land management plans and Agency directives provide a comprehensive
framework with respect to inventoried roadless area decision making.
Eliminating a cumbersome national level oversight process and returning
authority to the local decisionmakers provides for efficiency as well
as effectiveness for resource conservation. The important resource
values of inventoried roadless areas can be effectively conserved
through local decision making and planning without restrictive and
unnecessary national prohibitions.
Preliminary Description of Proposed Action
The USDA proposes to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation
Rule (66 FR 3244, 36 CFR Subpart B (2001)) on 44.7 million acres,
including the Tongass National Forest, but maintain state-specific
roadless conservation rules for Idaho and Colorado (36 CFR Subparts C
and D). As directed by Executive Order 14153: Unleashing Alaska's
Extraordinary Resource Potential, the proposed rule will expressly
exclude the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule. If
[[Page 42182]]
adopted, management of inventoried roadless areas would be governed by
applicable land management plan direction.
The proposed action would rescind the prohibitions set forth in the
2001 Roadless Rule. Local land management planning, guided by public
input and information on land conditions, would provide the basis for
conservation of inventoried roadless areas. The proposed rule would not
compel amendment or revision of any land management plan, though plans
may be amended in any manner whatsoever, and are revised periodically
(16 U.S.C. 1604(f)).
The proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule would not
authorize any specific ground-disturbing activities or projects, nor
does it propose any increase in the overall amount of timber harvested
or roads constructed; require any timber harvest or road construction;
or dictate when, where, or how such activities may occur in the future.
These decisions are left to the local officials through site-specific
analysis and evaluation of land and resource conditions and would be
consistent with applicable plan provisions. The proposed rule would not
alter existing regulatory requirements for environmental analysis,
public engagement, or administrative review.
Preliminary Description of Known Alternatives
In addition to the proposed action, the EIS will analyze a `no
action' alternative that would retain the 2001 Roadless Rule.
Preliminary List of Substantive Issues and Summary of Expected Impacts
The EIS will evaluate the potential social, economic, and
environmental programmatic effects resulting from the implementation of
the alternatives described above. Substantive issues are those that
meaningfully inform the consideration of reasonably foreseeable impacts
of the proposed action or a decision on the alternative selected for
implementation (7 CFR 1b.11). The following preliminary substantive
issues are anticipated to be evaluated. The EIS will evaluate the
anticipated impacts and benefits, including reasonably foreseeable
impacts, related to:
<bullet> Public access to National Forest System lands, including
for recreation, to facilitate subsistence or other uses, and to
exercise legal rights.
<bullet> Forest health and management, including timber management,
fuels management, and fire suppression.
<bullet> Soil, water and air; plant and animal communities,
including threatened, endangered, sensitive species; scenic integrity;
recreation settings and opportunities; and cultural resources,
traditional cultural properties, and sacred sites.
<bullet> Local and regional economies.
The level of environmental review of the identified resources for
the EIS will be commensurate with the anticipated effects to each
resource. Because the proposed rule does not propose to compel changes
to land management plans or initiate development of specific activities
within currently inventoried roadless areas, it is uncertain if there
would be any future project-level decisions, and what those decisions
might entail. Effects of any future actions will be considered at
Forest or project-level scales where site-specific details of a
specific action and the resources it affects can be meaningfully
evaluated and weighed, subject to their land management plans and
environmental analysis processes.
Cooperating and Participating Agencies
The USDA Forest Service is the lead agency. No Cooperating or
Participating Agencies have been designated. The USDA Forest Service
does not anticipate designating any Federal, State, Tribal, or local
agencies as cooperating or participating agencies. These organizations
are encouraged to provide input through the public comment
opportunities for this notice of intent, as well as the proposed rule
and draft EIS.
Responsible Official
The Responsible Official is the Secretary of Agriculture or her
designee.
Request for Public Comments
Comments received on this notice of intent will guide the
development of the EIS. The Agency is requesting comments on
alternatives or effects and on relevant information, studies, or
analyses with respect to the proposal. Follow the instructions for
sending comments (see ADDRESSES section above).
It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times
and in such a manner that they are useful to the Agency's preparation
of the EIS; therefore, comments should be provided prior to the close
of the comment period and should clearly articulate the reviewer's
concerns and contentions. When lengthy or complex comments are
provided, they are most effective if a brief, plainly worded summary of
the main points is included. Comments, including attachments and any
personal information provided in your comments, will be posted to the
docket unchanged. Do not submit any information you consider to be
private, Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other information,
the disclosure of which is restricted by statute.
This action is not subject to the pre-decisional administrative
review (objection) process of 36 CFR 218 or 219.
Tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations will have an
opportunity to be engaged during rulemaking and EIS development through
various coordination and consultation events.
Anticipated Permits or Other Authorizations
No anticipated permits or other authorizations are required for
this action.
Brooke Rollins,
Secretary of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2025-16581 Filed 8-28-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 29, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.