The Roadless Rule

An Overview:

The Roadless Rule is a U.S. Forest Service regulation established in 2001 that prohibits road construction, industrial development, and logging in Inventoried Roadless Areas of national forests, while still allowing forest management measures to control or suppress wildfires, insect infestations, and tree diseases, and certain human health risks. Initially, the rule covered about 58.5 million acres of national forests across the United States, but it currently applies to about 45 million acres following various state-specific exemptions and changes over the years. Roadless Areas currently account for 30% of our National Forest System lands.

The Roadless Rule is overwhelmingly popular. When the U.S. Forest Service adopted the Roadless Rule in 2001, more than 1.6 million people commented during the rulemaking process, with 95% supporting strong roadless area protection. At the time, this was the most extensive public participation in the history of federal rulemaking. In 2025, when the Admiration first published its Notice of Intent to rescind the Roadless Rule, roughly 600,000 comments were made during the initial, 21-day comment period, and more than 99.8% of the public comments opposed rescission.

Overflow Creek Roadless Area, Chattooga watershed.

Now, the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to repeal the Roadless Rule, stripping Roadless protections from 45 million acres of national forest and grassland across the United States.

What Would losing The Roadless Rule Mean for the Chattooga River Watershed?

The Appalachian Mountain range holds the vast majority of Inventoried Roadless Areas in the Eastern US.

There are almost 18,000 acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas within or immediately surrounding the Chattooga River watershed. About 11% of the public land within our watershed is protected by the Roadless Rule.

Base map from Outdoor Alliance; Watershed map from our Interactive Map

As you’ve traveled through some of these special places in and around the Chattooga River watershed, such as Rabun Bald, Overflow Creek, Sarah’s Creek Campground, or the Foothills Trail, you may not have known you were in an Inventoried Roadless Area. But you likely experienced what that protection has helped preserve: the rare feeling of moving through a landscape largely untouched by modern development.

Left to right: View of the Chattooga from the Foothills Trail, Big Mtn. Roadless Area; Waterfall along Sarah’s Creek, Sarah’s Creek Roadless Area; Unique tree, Bee Cove Roadless Area

There is no better testament to the importance of wild places than the sense of quiet solitude and wonder that these Roadless Areas hold. But they offer so much more than that. Roadless areas contain many upper Chattooga tributaries, and even buffer a portion of the Chattooga River, helping ensure access to clean, crystal-clear water for tens of thousands of recreationalists every year, from trout fishermen to whitewater rafters.

Salamander in Bee Creek, Bee Cove Roadless Area

And they are essential for wildlife: many of our watershed’s most threatened species, including the Northern Long-eared Bat, the Small Whorled Pogonia, and the Smooth Coneflower, call Roadless Areas home. Roadless areas provide the stretches of uninterrupted habitat which are essential to dynamic and thriving ecosystems.

If we lose our Roadless Areas, we will lose the Chattooga River watershed as we know it.

HERE

Submit a Public comment!

Below, we have a sample comment. You are welcome to simply copy and paste this text, but the most effective public comments are original writing, and contain some kind of personal connection to what you’re advocating for.

If you plan to write your own public comment, we have a compilation of facts and information about the Roadless Rule below that you can incorporate into your comment.

Option 1) Use our saMple Comment:

Copy the text below, open the comment portal, then paste it into the comment field.

To Whom It May Concern,

I strongly oppose the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Since 2001, Roadless Areas have effectively preserved many of the most important characteristics of our public lands, such as clean water, intact mature and old-growth forests, wildlife, and recreational opportunities that simply don’t exist anywhere else. In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the values protected by Inventoried Roadless Areas are especially rare. Opening up Roadless Areas to logging and roadbuilding would destroy the most significant vestiges of natural landscape remaining in the Southern Appalachians, in a way that can’t be undone for generations—if ever.

As someone who cares deeply about the ecological integrity of the Chattooga River watershed in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, I know that Roadless Area protection is vital to the watershed I love. Roadless Areas buffer the National Wild & Scenic Chattooga River corridor, ensuring access to clean, crystal-clear water for tens of thousands of recreationalists every year, from trout fishermen to whitewater rafters. They provide undisturbed habitats essential for threatened, endangered, and sensitive species; as well as state species of greatest concern, migratory birds, and wildlife valued by hunters and anglers. Those seeking solitude or access to untouched natural landscapes can find these qualities in Roadless Areas in and around the Chattooga River watershed. These values are often not accessible on local public land outside of Roadless Area protection, and they would be irrevocably damaged by roadbuilding and logging if the Roadless Rule were stripped away.

Roadless Areas also protect against wildfire ignition risk, at a time when wildfire severity is rising nationwide. In fact, over the past three decades, wildfires were nearly 4X more likely to start within 50m of a road than in Inventoried Roadless Areas. Current Roadless Rule protections not only address the threat of wildfire ignition, but they also already allow flexibility for forest management activities and roadbuilding when necessary to fight fires.

The Roadless Rule serves the interests of local communities and visitors who benefit from Inventoried Roadless Area values. This is apparent in the 99.8% of comments which opposed this proposed action at the Notice of Intent stage. Repealing the Roadless Rule would not “provide benefits to the American people” as the Department claims, but would, instead, refute the will of the public, who overwhelmingly support keeping the Roadless Rule in place. There is therefore no need to repeal the popular and effective Roadless Rule. It is working.

I urge you to keep the 2001 Roadless Rule intact.

Thank you.

Leave your comment on the Federal Register here!

Option 2) Build your own Comment:

Use the information below to write a comment of your own!

Recreation:

Nationally: According to Outdoor Alliance, a rollback of the Roadless Rule could unwind protections for 45 million acres of national forests, putting at risk 25,121 miles of trails, 8,659 climbing routes, 768 miles of whitewater, and 10,794 miles of mountain biking. These forests are the backbone of a $1.3 trillion outdoor recreation economy that supports 5.2 million jobs.

Chattooga watershed: Throughout the Chattooga River watershed, Roadless Areas contain some of the most treasured recreation opportunities for residents and visitors alike. If you’ve enjoyed a hike up to the peak of Rabun Bald, you have enjoyed the scenic views of a Roadless Area. If you have ever camped at Sarah’s Creek Campground, you have experienced the lush forestlands and creeks of a Roadless Area. If you have ever trekked up the Foothills Trail, you have soaked in the solitude of a Roadless Area. And if you have ever (very bravely) kayaked down Overflow Creek, the water that whisked you downstream came from a Roadless Area.

Rare and endangered species:

Nationally: Because they are not fragmented by roads, these Roadless Areas provide habitat for more than 1,600 of our nations threatened and endangered species, such as California condors, grizzly bears and wolves in the Yellowstone area, native salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest, migratory songbirds in the Appalachian hardwoods and more. They also sustain wild salmon, especially in Alaska where they are the lifeblood for both the fishing industry and traditional subsistence practices of Indigenous communities.

Chattooga watershed: According to Center for Conservation Innovation‘s “At-Risk Species in National Forest Roadless Areas” map, available here, the Roadless Area’s of the Chattooga River watershed is home to 20 different species that range from at risk to endangered, including the Northern Long-eared Bat, the Small Whorled Pogonia, and the Smooth Coneflower.

Water Quality:

Nationally: The headwaters of 354 municipal watersheds. According to DellaSala (2011), national forests supply drinking water to at least 124 million people in more than 3,400 communities across 33 states—roughly a third of all national-forest runoffs originate in inventoried roadless areas. Roads are a major cause of water pollution: erosion rates from logging roads have been documented as much as 850% higher than from undisturbed forest. Because the 2001 Roadless Rule protects these headwaters, it is vital for maintaining clean drinking water for communities across the country.

Chattooga watershed: Both the Chattooga River and many of the Chattooga River’s most integral tributaries flow through Roadless Areas. The areas provide a natural buffer between human development and our waterways, and are therefore essential to maintaining the water quality of the Chattooga. Between Burrell’s Ford and the West fork, the Big Mountain Roadless Area provides almost 2,000 acres of buffer on the Georgia side of the Chattooga River, and over 1,000 acres of buffer on the South Carolina side. Further, roadless areas provide this same protective buffer for many of the Chattooga’s tributaries: the headwaters of Overflow Creek, Sarah’s Creek, Holcomb Creek, Walnut Fork, Reed Creek, Pigpen Branch, King Creek, and Ira Branch all flow through Roadless Areas.

Economy:

Nationally: Building more roads in national forests would be a drain on taxpayers. Even with the Roadless Rule in place, the Forest Service already has a 380,000-mile road system—twice as long as the U.S. highway system—crisscrossing national forests. The agency cannot afford to maintain it: the deferred-maintenance road backlog was estimated at $8.4 billion in the 2001 Final Environmental Impact Statement and is roughly $15.6 billion in today’s dollars.

Chattooga watershed: Roadless Areas in and around the Chattooga River watershed provide significant benefits felt by many local businesses and workers, especially in tourism industries. The anticipated loss to these services, if Roadless protections are eliminated, is difficult to estimate.

The strong support for Roadless Rule protections by such recreational interest organizations as Trout Unlimited and American Whitewater show that some of the most popular pursuits that draw visitors to the Chattooga River watershed will be at risk if the Roadless Rule is dismantled. The economic effects of decreased tourism could likewise ripple out into related industries, and the effects would be profound.

Other Talking Points:

The Roadless Rule is still incredibly popular. 99.8% of comments submitted at the Notice of Intent stage for this proposed action oppose repealing the Roadless Rule. It is USDA’s duty to listen to the overwhelming opinion of the public and leave the Roadless Rule in place.

Roadbuilding increases wildfire ignition risk, at a time when wildfire severity is increasing nationwide. In fact, over the past three decades, wildfires were nearly 4X more likely to start within 50m of a road than in Inventoried Roadless Areas. And the current Roadless Rule protections already allow for forest management activities and roadbuilding when necessary to fight fires.

Leave your comment on the Federal Register here!