Save our Forests!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (colloquially known as the “Roadless Rule”) in 2025 and again on August 26th, 2026. This is a National Policy enacted in 2001 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which establishes prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried “roadless areas” in National Forest Service lands. The USDA announced their intentions to rescind the Roadless Rule in 2025. Rescinding this rule could strip protections from 3 million acres of inventoried roadless national forest land in Nevada and nearly 45 million acres of national forests. Roughly 54% (about 3.1 million acres) of National Forest System lands in Nevada consist of Inventoried Roadless Areas. 

On August 18th, 2026, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins released the proposed rule as well as the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The comment period for responding to these is now open and will close September 21st, 2026. NVNPS plans to make an official statement for the comment period. Members of NVNPS and the general public are encouraged to respond as well. More information can be found on the USDA website here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless. A draft response can be found here: https://saveroadlessforests.com/send-your-letter. Other environmental organizations have additional information and draft responses, so please utilize them as well.