U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins took the next formal step yesterday in the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle longstanding forest protections by announcing the official opening of a 21-day public comment period on a proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This landmark safeguard has protected millions of acres of relatively undeveloped national forest land from permanent roadbuilding and industrial logging for nearly a quarter-century.
The move places 45 million acres of public land at risk across the nation, including 635,000 acres of some of the most remote and ecologically intact landscapes in Los Padres National Forest.
Los Padres ForestWatch, along with conservation organizations across the country, condemned the decision as reckless and politically driven, urging community members to make their voices heard during the public comment period and calling on Congress to pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act (H.R. 3930/S. 2042). This legislation—co-sponsored by several Central Coast lawmakers including Representative Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Representative Julia Brownley (CA-26), Representative Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), and Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) as well as Senator Alex Padilla—would permanently codify these protections into law and shield national forests from future political attacks.
“Opening the comment period is a clear signal that the current administration is intent on handing over even more of our public lands to the timber industry,” said Bryant Baker, Director of Conservation & Research at ForestWatch. “The public overwhelmingly supported the Roadless Rule when it was created in 2001 and it still does today. Now is the time for everyone who enjoys hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and driving off-highway vehicles on designated trails in roadless areas to speak out against this rollback.”
The Roadless Rule was established in 2001 after one of the most extensive public participation processes in federal rulemaking history, generating over 1.5 million comments in support. It has withstood repeated legal challenges and continues to serve as a cornerstone of national forest conservation, safeguarding wild landscapes from roadbuilding, mining, oil drilling, and industrial logging.
The Los Padres National Forest alone contains 37 “inventoried roadless areas” (IRAs) totaling 635,106 acres across Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey Counties. These areas provide vital habitat for endangered species, safeguard municipal watersheds, support forests that regulate our climate, and offer exceptional opportunities for backcountry recreation—including 349 miles of trails for both motorized and non-motorized recreation.
Despite administration claims that repealing the Roadless Rule is necessary for wildfire prevention and rural economic growth, data show the opposite. More than 371,000 miles of roads already crisscross national forests, leaving the U.S. Forest Service with a nearly $5 billion road and bridge maintenance backlog. Human-caused wildfires occur disproportionately near roads, meaning that expanding the network into roadless areas will only heighten fire risk while fragmenting habitat and further straining agency resources. Additionally, nothing in the Roadless Rule prevents fire suppression activities when wildfires do occur.
In fact, the Roadless Rule does not stand in the way of fuel reduction and fire management projects. The Forest Service has approved multiple projects in roadless areas of Los Padres National Forest in recent years, including on Tecuya Ridge in Kern County and Pine Mountain in Ventura County, demonstrating that fire-related work can and does move forward even when such projects are considered controversial. What the Rule prohibits is industrial-scale logging of large, mature trees—the very trees most important for storing carbon, providing habitat, and stabilizing watersheds. Conservation groups argue that, if anything, the Roadless Rule should be strengthened to better safeguard these irreplaceable forests.
“The notion that this rollback is about wildfire prevention is a farce—it is transparently about opening new areas of our public lands to large-scale logging and other damaging activities that require permanent roads.” said Baker. “We cannot allow industry interests disguised as wildfire prevention to dismantle protections for some of the most cherished landscapes in our national forests.”
ForestWatch is urging community members to take action by submitting comments opposing the rollback and supporting the Roadless Area Conservation Act. Visit forestwatch.org/roadless to see an interactive map of roadless areas in Los Padres National Forest as well as information about how to speak out during the 21-day comment period.
Header photo by Bryant Baker depicts hikers in the Sespe-Frazier Inventoried Roadless Area within Los Padres National Forest.