Wyoming’s delegation applauded Monday as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to rescind the Clinton-era Roadless Rule preventing the development of roads on nearly 4 million acres of Wyoming’s National Forest Service land.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the “overreaching regulation” made it harder to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Nationally, an estimated 28 million acres of land that was protected by the rule is at risk of a wildfire, according to the Department of Agriculture.
“Eliminating this misguided rule paves the way for the Forest Service to responsibly and proactively manage our forests for the better,” Barrasso added in an X post.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she supported Rollins’s decision to “restore commonsense resource management.”
Rollins’s move removes prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production, Lummis added in an X post.
Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., called the rescission “a great day for the United States of America.”
“By being able to build roads, we’re going to be able to have more hunters, anglers, campers and hikers to be able to access and use these resources,” Hageman said in a video posted to Facebook.
Rollins announced plans to rescind the rule during a Western State Governors Association meeting in Santa Fe, N.M.
President Donald Trump’s administration is committed to removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of natural resources, Rollins said.
“This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests,” Rollins said in a news release. “It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”
President Bill Clinton’s administration created the Roadless Rule Jan. 12, 2001, eight days before his successor, George W. Bush, took office. It was designed to protect undeveloped national forest land from development by disallowing road construction in those areas.
The Roadless Rule protected roughly 59 million acres nationally.
Matthew Christian can be reached at matthew@cowboystatdaily.com.
