In the past few weeks, the Administration has proposed rescission of two rules that govern management of federal public lands. On August 27, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it had opened a public comment period on its rulemaking process to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. Just two weeks later on September 10, the Department of the Interior announced that it was proposing to rescind the 2024 Public Lands Rule (or Conservation and Landscape Health Rule).

The U.S. Forest Service published a notice in the Federal Register on August 29 seeking public comment on its intention to develop an environmental impact statement for the proposed roadless rule rescission. According to the Department, the “one size fits all” approach to roadless area management is no longer appropriate and proposes that land management planning processes should be used to administer inventoried roadless areas. They note in the proposal that conditions have changed dramatically over the past 24 years, including the expanding wildland-urban interface; growing impacts of extreme wildfire, drought, and insect and disease infestations; and continuing deferred maintenance on national forest roads and trails. These issues require management flexibility for the agency to achieve its multiple use conservation, mission including timber production, recreation, wildfire suppression and fuel reduction treatments. The rescission would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the nearly 60 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the National Forest System. Public comment is open through September 19 and will be considered during the development of the draft environmental impact statement. Additional opportunities to comment will occur as the rulemaking process continues.

“For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action – prohibiting road construction, which has limited wildfire suppression and active forest management,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities. We encourage participation in the upcoming public process. Your input will help to build a stronger, safer future for our forests and the communities that depend on these forests for jobs, recreation, and clean water.”

The Bureau of Land Management proposal to rescind the 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health rule was posted in the Federal Register on September 11 with its comment period open until November 10. According to the notice, the agency has determined that what is known as the Public Lands Rule is unnecessary, and even undermines, management of the public lands under the principles of multiple use and sustained yield. The Public Lands Rule identified conservation as a productive use for leases and permits, however the agency notes that conservation is not a “use” under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).

According to the release: “The Public Lands Rule exceeded the BLM’s statutory authority by placing an outsized priority on conservation or no-use at the expense of multiple-use access, threatening to curtail grazing, energy development, recreation, and other traditional land uses. Many rural communities depend on public lands for livelihoods tied to agriculture, mining and energy production. Rescinding the rule restores BLM to its legal mandate and protects these economic drivers from restrictive land-use policies. The people who depend on public lands for their livelihoods have every incentive to conserve them and have been doing so for generations—no new rule was needed to force what is already a way of life.”

Comments can be submitted through the Federal Register for the Roadless Rule until September 19 and for the Public Lands Rule through November 10.