2025-16581: Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands

Summary

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is initiating an environmental impact statement (EIS) and rulemaking concerning management of inventoried roadless areas on approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands, including in Alaska. The proposed rule would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule) (66 FR 3244, 36 CFR Subpart B (2001)), which prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas, with limited exceptions. State-specific roadless rules for Idaho and Colorado at 36 CFR 294 Subparts C and D will be retained and are excluded from this notice. Rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule is intended to return decision making for road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas to local officials, in conjunction with Forest-level land management planning. As directed by Executive Order 14153: Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential, the proposed rule will expressly exclude the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule. The EIS will evaluate the impacts of the proposed rule rescission and study alternatives for roadless area conservation on National Forest System lands, including the Tongass National Forest, in the context of multiple use resource management. USDA invites written comments on alternatives or effects and on relevant information, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposal.

The agency’s own summary, as published.