The Clinton-era Roadless Rule on U.S. Forest Service lands, already under threat of being rescinded by the Trump administration, will be erased completely if Wyoming Republicans U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman get their way.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has attached an amendment to Barrasso’s Wildfire Prevention Act of 2026, calling for the Roadless Rule to be nullified.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Wednesday passed Lee's amendment and forwarded the bill.
On the U.S. House side in May, Hageman introduced her Roadless Rule Nullification Bill.
Both Hageman’s bill and Lee’s amendment call for the 2001 U.S. Forest Service Roadless Rule to be nullified, with no possibility of it ever being reintroduced.
The Roadless Rule has forbidden new road construction on national forests across Wyoming’s high country. It’s also similarly prevented new road construction on 45 million acres of national forest lands across the West, and up to 60 million acres nationwide.
In August 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz announced the first step toward rescinding the rule, as directed by the Trump administration.
A decision is still pending on Trump’s call to repeal the rule.
Hageman and others who support eliminating the Roadless Rule argue that the rule has hampered sound forest management and wildfire prevention.
Environmentalists and sportsmen’s groups balk at the idea of erasing the Roadless Rule. They claim it protects some of Wyoming’s most pristine areas, with top-notch hunting and angling opportunities.
Hageman, Barrasso Want It Gone
Congressional moves against the Roadless Rule complement and bolster the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind it, according to Hageman and Barrasso.
“I have been fighting the Roadless Rule since the day it was handed down in the final 10 days of the Clinton administration,” Hageman said in a Thursday statement to Cowboy State Daily.
“The 25 years since have demonstrated how the prohibitions on roads across nearly 60 million acres of federal lands has been an environmental catastrophe as predicted,” she said. "I am glad to see the Senate take positive steps towards this devastating rule’s permanent repeal.”
Barrasso shares Hageman’s concerns about the impact the rule has had over the past 25 years.
“Senator Barrasso has been publicly opposed to the Clinton Roadless Rule for decades. He applauded Secretary Rollins and the Trump administration for rescinding this rule last year,” according to a statement from Barrasso’s office Thursday to Cowboy State Daily.
“This amendment would codify the administration’s efforts to rescind this outdated rule, while also respecting states’ rights to create their own rules,” the statement says.
Wildfires, Hunting And Bears
The Roadless Rule has long been controversial. In June 2025, Hageman blasted it, saying it leaves Wyoming more vulnerable to devastating wildfires.
Vast roadless areas prevent the removal of swaths of dead timber and other wildfire fuel, Hageman said. And a lack of roads makes it difficult for firefighting crews to reach remote areas when blazes break out.
However, some sportsmen’s and outdoor groups claim the Roadless Rule protects some of Wyoming’s greatest outdoor treasures.
"Repealing the Roadless Rule would affect 45 million acres of our country’s National Forests,” said the Outdoor Alliance. "These are the places we ride, hike, bike, ski, and climb, and they help protect clean air and water across the country.”
The Outdoor Alliance disagrees with Hageman and Barrasso, saying that “roadless areas also allow for active management of wildfire.”
The Wilderness Society goes further, calling the legislation “bad news” in a Wednesday statement.
“A new bill introduced by Senator John Barrasso (WY) and backed by Senator Mike Lee (UT) would strike down protections for 45 million acres of national forests by nullifying the Roadless Area Conservation Rule,” the group says in a statement.
The bill “masquerades as a solution to the wildfire crisis, but would make matters worse by overthinning naturally resilient forests and increasing the risk of human ignitions when wildland firefighting forces are already stretched thin by the administration’s reckless cuts,” the Wilderness Society says.
Roadless areas are vital to Western hunting and angling, Devin O’Dea, the Western policy and conservation manager for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, previously told Cowboy State Daily.
“These are places we know are really valuable from a hunting and fishing perspective,” he said.
Retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear biologist Chris Servheen is a vocal supporter of the Roadless Rule.
Speaking during a May rally Washington, D.C., Servheen said that rescinding the rule is bound to get more grizzlies killed and will fragment vital bear habitat.
That, in turn could derail efforts to delist grizzlies from federal Endangered Species protection in the Lower 48, he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
