US Plans to Allow Mining and Other Activities in Undeveloped Forest Areas

According to a report by Mining Weekly citing Bloomberg, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday that it would scrap a Clinton-era policy that banned logging, road construction, and mining in undeveloped forest areas, in order to better control fire risks. This move has faced opposition from environmentalists.

The USDA said the policy change would enable 23.9 million hectares of federal forest land to better mitigate fire risks.

This move aligns with President Trump's goal of rolling back environmental regulations, which he said were obstacles to industry.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule) while attending the Western Governors' Association meeting in Santa Fe.

"After repealing this regulation, we now want to return to traditional forest management practices to ensure our forests benefit future generations," Rollins said during a news conference at the meeting.

The US Forest Service (USFS), a subordinate agency of the USDA, has data showing that the Roadless Rule affected 30% of the land under USFS jurisdiction.

This is not the first time Trump has attempted to scrap this policy. During his presidency in 2020, he exempted Alaska's Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule, but Biden reversed this decision in 2023. The Tongass is the largest national forest in the US.

The USDA said the move would allow for local management of the land. Approximately 60% of the forest land in Utah and Montana, protected by the Roadless Rule, does not allow for road construction.

"This misleading regulation has restricted the USFS from thinning and harvesting trees to prevent wildfires," Rollins said during the meeting. He added that since the Roadless Rule was implemented 30 years ago, the area of forest destroyed by wildfires has doubled.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham refuted Rollins' claim that the Roadless Rule had expanded wildfire areas over the past three decades.

"Climate change is the main cause of these destructive fires," Lujan Grisham said at the Western Governors' meeting, earning applause from the audience.

The environmental protection inspection team Earthjustice believes that wildfires are more likely to start in areas with roads.

Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans at Earthjustice, said, "For decades, the Roadless Rule has protected our most remote 58 million acres of national forest land from logging.""The Trump administration now wants to throw these forest protection measures aside so that the timber industry can make big money from unrestrained logging."

"These lands belong to all the people of the US, not the timber industry."