Trump administration to open undeveloped forests to mining, logging

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will rescind a Clinton-era policy that banned logging, roads and mining in undeveloped forests so it can manage those lands for fire risks, the agency said on Monday, a move opposed by environmentalists.

The change will allow nearly 59 million acres (23.9 million hectares) of federal forest lands to be better managed for fire risk, the USDA said.

The move is aligned with President Donald Trump's goal to lift environmental regulations that he says are roadblocks to industry.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule during an appearance at the Western Governor's Association meeting in Santa Fe.

"After the repeal of this rule, we are going to go back to common-sense forest management to ensure our forests are here for generations to come," Rollins said during a press briefing at the meeting.

The U.S. Forest Service is a division of the Department of Agriculture. The Roadless Rule impacts about 30% of Forest Service lands, according to USDA.

It is not the first time Trump has sought to roll back the policy. In 2020, his administration exempted Alaska's Tongass forest from the Roadless Rule, a move that was reversed by President Joe Biden in 2023. The Tongass is the largest U.S. national forest.

USDA said the move will allow the lands to be managed at the local level. About 60% of forest lands in states including Utah and Montana are restricted from road development because of the Roadless Rule, USDA said.

"This misguided rule prohibits the Forest Service from thinning and cutting trees to prevent wildfires," Rollins said in a speech at the meeting, adding that the average acreage of U.S. forest burned each year by wildfires has doubled since the rule was implemented 30 years ago.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham pushed back at Rollins' characterisation of the Roadless Rule driving the increase in wildfire acreage over the past three decades.

"Climate change is the biggest problem in fuel and these damaging fires," Lujan Grisham told the meeting of western governors, to applause from the audience.

Environmental group Earthjustice criticized the rule, saying wildfires are more likely to start in landscapes that have roads.

“The roadless rule has protected 58 million acres of our wildest national forest lands from clearcutting for more than a generation. The Trump administration now wants to throw these forest protections overboard so the timber industry can make huge money from unrestrained logging," Drew Caputo, Earthjustice's vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans.

"These are lands that belong to all Americans, not the timber industry."