What the Forest Service proposed
The U.S. Forest Service is taking public comment until September 21 on a proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The rule bans road building, logging and mining across roughly 58 million acres of undeveloped national forest, about 30 percent of the National Forest System.
Under the proposal, filed in August, authority would shift to local forest managers. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the change would improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk.
Critics point to fire risk
Conservation groups disagree. They argue that opening backcountry land to more roads and development increases the number of human-caused ignitions, which is how most wildfires start. "Opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development, and therefore more ignitions, is also not a wildfire solution, and never will be," one advocate said.
The proposal comes in one of the worst fire years on record. The National Interagency Fire Center counted 7.3 million acres burned in about 49,000 fires through August 17. The protections at stake cover forests from the Tongass in Alaska to roadless areas in the Rocky Mountains.
Water pressure in the West
Separately, the Interior Department has proposed cutting Colorado River deliveries for Arizona, California and Nevada by as much as 3 million acre-feet per year. The river supplies more than 40 million people across seven states.
The plan followed a record-dry winter that left Lake Mead and Lake Powell at a combined record low, raising the risk that their hydroelectric plants stop generating. Arizona's water department called the proposal "unacceptable" and noted it does not require cuts from the four upper basin states.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the framework gives the basin states flexibility while they work toward a longer agreement. Negotiations continue as several river guidelines expire at the end of 2026.