Action Alert: America’s Wild Lands at Risk

AMERICA’S WILD LANDS AT RISK

What Is at Stake?

On August 18, 2026, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule—a bedrock conservation policy that has protected nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forests for over two decades. Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open our national forests to road construction, mining, and logging projects, fragmenting landscapes that are critical to sustaining wildlife populations.  

Repealing the Roadless Rule would put countless birds, fish, and other wildlife at greater risk, and it would deprive us of  the rare opportunity to experience a relatively undisturbed natural landscape. As many as 414 species that are listed, proposed for listing, or otherwise protected under the Endangered Species Act have ranges that overlap roadless areas. Aquatic listed species would face substantial risks as well. Road construction and reconstruction can destabilize slopes and increase erosion, sending sediment into streams. Sediment can smother spawning gravels, reduce water clarity, alter stream channels, and degrade habitat for fish and other aquatic species.

The Roadless Rule already allows for road construction necessary for wildlands fire management. The argument that repealing the Roadless Rule is necessary to reduce wildfire risk rings false.

Your Action Needed

Submit your comments in opposition to repealing the Roadless Rule. Let the Administration know you value natural landscapes and want our public lands protected. To comment on the proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement, go to Regulations.gov. 

Public comments must be received by midnight on September 21. 

More information is available on the Forest Service Roadless Areas webpage. 

Sample Letter

Please consider adapting this sample letter to reflect your own concerns and relationship to our wild landscapes.

Dear Secretary Rollins and Chief Schultz,

I write to express my strong opposition to repealing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This rule protects 45 million acres of natural intact forests—called roadless areas—that provide critical wildlife habitat, especially for species that are declining.

As many as 414 animals and plants listed as endangered, threatened, or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act have ranges that overlap with roadless areas. For example, the Pacific coastal marten relies on roadless areas in the Pacific Northwest. Once presumed extinct, we now know there are about 400 left, and they live deep within unlogged forests including National Forest roadless areas.

In addition to providing critical wildlife habitat, roadless areas are very important for delivering clean water to fish-bearing streams and eventually into the faucets of many American homes. Roadless areas also where many Americans go to hike, ride, bike, fish and hunt—activities that fuel a $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy that supports over five million jobs. 

The benefits of this rule are so compelling that I am asking the Forest Service to keep this rule and not weaken it in any way. By doing this, we can promote wildlife conservation in this country and contribute to quality of life and economic security for our communities.

Thank you for considering these comments.

Sincerely,

Your name

Marbled Murrelet, a species that depends on wild forests and is protected by the Endangered Species Act, photo courtesy of USGS/R. Macintosh