News

On Aug. 27, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving forward with plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. A notice is now live on the Federal Register, where the public can comment on the repeal in a mere three-week window, from now until Sept. 19.

The proposal would lift roadless protections from nearly 45 million acres of roadless national forest lands across the country, including more than 6 million acres in Montana. For hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts, the stakes could not be higher.

“Montanans have consistently supported strong protections for our backcountry lands,” said Mike Mershon, board president of the Montana Wildlife Federation. “Rolling back the Roadless Rule would not only put elk and native trout at risk, it would also strip away the very opportunities that make Montana special. We need more time to ensure our voices are heard.”

(Learn more about the Roadless Rule here.)

What’s at Risk

Since its creation nearly a quarter century ago, the Roadless Rule has safeguarded large, unfragmented areas of national forest by generally prohibiting new road construction. These lands include headwater streams that feed Montana’s rivers, critical elk security habitat, and some of the most sought-after backcountry hunting and fishing destinations across the country—and in Montana.

These forests only remain intact because of the Forest Service’s commitment not to allow roads for destructive industrial activities like major logging or oil and gas drilling, although the rule already provides access for pre-existing oil and gas leases, and new oil and gas leases can be accessed through directional drilling.

Rescinding the rule would open the door to large-scale development that would fragment habitat, pollute waterways, and forever change the character of places generations of Americans have relied on for solitude, fish, and game.

Let’s be clear: the Roadless Rule is flexible: it allows for off-highway vehicle riding on existing trails, firewood cutting, grazing, and active management projects such as thinning and prescribed burning. It is not wilderness. In fact, the Forest Service and its partners have used the Roadless Rule framework to carry out hundreds of restoration projects in Montana that improve forest health and fish habitat while supporting rural jobs.

These areas are vital for wildlife, and they’re also used for recreation by millions of Americans. Roadless areas protect more than 43,000 miles of trail, over 20,000 mountain biking routes, 11,000 climbing routes, and more than 1,000 whitewater paddling runs. Large sections of the Continental Divide Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Appalachian Trail cross through them. Rolling back protections would jeopardize access to some of the most iconic outdoor experiences in the country.

Fire and Forest Health

Proponents of repealing the Roadless Rule have argued that it limits wildfire suppression efforts. However, a 2025 study found that logging and road building disrupts forest ecosystems, leading organic materials to become more flammable. In short, wildfires are far more likely to start near roads. New research from The Wilderness Society, now in peer review, shows that from 1992 to 2024, wildfires were four times as likely to start in areas with roads than in roadless tracts. Seventy-eight percent of human-caused fires on National Forests nationwide start within a half-mile of a road (85% of all wildfires are human-caused).

The Roadless Rule already allows for fire mitigation using mechanized thinning and prescribed burning. Since the Roadless Rule was enacted in 2001, more than 188,000 acres of Montana’s roadless lands have been treated for hazardous fuels reduction, representing more than 20% all treatments in our state during this timeframe.

Without the rule, these areas would be vulnerable to new roadbuilding that fragments wildlife habitat, degrades water quality, and pushes elk onto private lands where public access is often limited. Hunters who rely on these areas to find solitude and game would see those opportunities diminish.

Why Hunters and Anglers Should Care

For sportsmen and women who lace up our boots at 4 a.m. and walk into the dark to hunt elk, the connection is clear: fewer intact landscapes mean fewer elk on public land, less secure cover for wildlife, and more hunters stacked up at the same crowded trailheads. Elk rely on secure habitat to avoid heavy hunting pressure, and roadless lands provide exactly that. According to the USDA’s own data, fewer roads correlate directly with more elk and greater hunter satisfaction.

Hunters know this and the outdoor industry has built entire tools around it. Recently, GOHUNT rolled out a new mapping feature — a Road Density layer — that they’re calling a “game-changer” for finding elk away from pressure. Montana-based OnX has offered a roadless layer for years, making it easier for hunters to identify the very places the Roadless Rule was designed to protect. These tools are popular because they point hunters toward opportunity: the intact, unroaded landscapes where elk still behave like elk and where hunting traditions can be passed down.

For anglers, the stakes are just as clear. Roadless areas shelter the headwater streams where native trout and salmon still hold on. These are the places worth a backcountry trek with a fly rod strapped to your pack—rivers shaded by old-growth spruce and fir, where the water runs cold enough to sustain fragile species. Industrial logging threatens that balance. Logging proposals often target the biggest, oldest trees—the very ones that store the most carbon, create a canopy that cools stream temperatures, and sustain entire aquatic ecosystems. The same roads that scatter elk herds also bleed sediment into streams, smothering spawning beds. What’s left is warmer water, fewer trout, and the slow unraveling of fishing traditions that depend on intact watersheds. Removing them would mean a direct hit to climate resilience, fish habitat, and big game security.

More Roads, More Costs

The value of roadless country stretches beyond our elk and native trout. Across the United States, national forests supply drinking water to more than 60 million people. Opening these lands to development is an invoice to taxpayers, who will be left paying for filtration plants and restoration projects once clean water sources are compromised.

On top of that, we don’t have the resources to manage the roads already in existence. The Forest Service already manages 380,000 miles of roads through national forests—twice the length of the national highway system. The agency has a multibillion-dollar backlog of maintenance needs for this network, and ongoing staff shortages mean it cannot even manage what exists today. Building new roads in backcountry forests would saddle taxpayers with billions more in costs and maintenance liabilities.

These roads would also fragment big-game migration corridors, undermine habitat security for species from elk to grizzlies, and put culturally important hunting, fishing, and gathering areas at risk.

TAKE ACTION

The administration has given the public just 21 days to weigh in on a proposal that would reshape the management of nearly one-fifth of the National Forest System. That is simply not enough time for hunters, anglers, local communities, and conservationists to have their say.

The public comment period runs only through Sept. 19. Public comments will be considered during the development of the draft environmental impact statement, and additional opportunities to comment will occur as the rulemaking process continues, according to the USDA.

If you care about keeping Montana’s backcountry open, intact, and teeming with fish and wildlife, now is the time to speak up.

You can submit your comment directly through the Federal Register here. Tell USDA to keep the Roadless Rule in place, extend the comment period, and protect the public lands that define our way of life.