Stop Efforts to Repeal Old Growth Forest Protections provided by the Roadless Rule! 

In September 2025, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins initiated a formal process to rescind the 2001 National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule—a critical safeguard that has protected over 58 million acres of national forest from logging and roadbuilding for over 25 years. 

These forests—many of which include our last remaining old-growth—have stayed intact because this rule kept them off-limits to destructive activities like major logging operations and oil and gas drilling. These wild lands afford abundant opportunities for wilderness and backcountry outdoor recreation, are essential habitat for fish and wildlife, and protect clean drinking water that ultimately flows into the faucets of millions of Americans. 

Unlike laws passed by Congress, administrative rules can be undone by a sitting President. In fact, during his first term, President Trump removed Roadless Rule protections for 9 million acres in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest in 2020. That repeal was then reversed by President Biden in 2023. 

To stop this back-and-forth and make protections permanent, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Representative Andrea Salinas (D-OR-06) have introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025 (HR 3930/S. 2042). Their bill would codify the rule into law to prevent future rollbacks. The House bill already has nearly 70 cosponsors—but we need all 10 of Washington’s U.S. Representatives to support it. 

Here in Washington State, nearly 2 million acres of roadless forest are at risk. The public lands sell-off proposals originally included in the budget reconciliation bill would have included most of these areas. Your advocacy helped stop it—but this fight isn’t over. Beloved destinations like the Lena Lake Trail in the Olympic National Forest, the Kettle Crest Trail in the Colville National Forest, and Maple Pass Loop Trail in the Wenatchee-Okanogan National Forest are all within roadless areas. 

Roadless protections are one of the last, best tools we have to protect our remaining old-growth forests, salmon streams, clean drinking water, and backcountry recreational areas.