SEATTLE, Wash. – Washington was among several states who submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Forest Service on Friday, urging the agency to reconsider the Trump administration’s plans to open 45 million acres of land in national forests for logging and road construction.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, enacted in 2001, prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas in U.S. national forests. The rule still allows for flexibility in circumstances like managing wildfire. The Trump administration announced its intention to repeal the rule in June.
“In Washington, the rule protects approximately 2 million acres statewide, including parts of the Olympic, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Gifford Pinchot, Okanogan-Wenatchee, Colville, and Umatilla national forests,” according to a press release from the Washington Attorney General Nick Brown’s office.
Brown, along with the attorneys general from the states of California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont say that the U.S. Forest Service struggles to maintain existing roads, and opening the door to more construction could prove not only cumbersome but costly.
“According to its own analysis, the U.S. Forest Service cannot even afford to maintain existing roads: In 2024, the agency reported a backlog of $6 billion in road maintenance for the passenger vehicle roads that account for less than 18% of its total road system,” the press release said.
The U.S. Forest Service was accepting comments on the proposal to rescind the roadless rule from August 29 through September 19.
