This time, the agency is taking aim at the Travel Management Rule, longstanding USFS policy on motorized vehicle use on national forest lands.
Instituted in 2005, the Travel Management Rule balances recreational uses and ecological values, providing a framework for forest managers to designate where motor vehicle access is allowed. The rule can be generalized to a default status of “closed to motorized use unless specifically designated open.” Other major elements and key terminology include:
- Clear designations: Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs) – Every national forest must have a designated transportation system that specifies where and how ATVs, dirt bikes, 4WD vehicles, snowmobiles, and cars can be driven, and must publish a Motor Vehicle Use Map to show these routes.
- “Minimization criteria” – New or modified motorized access must minimize damage to natural resources, harassment of wildlife, and potential conflicts with other recreational uses.
- Travel management planning process – The public is allowed to participate in reviewing changes to travel management at the local or district level.
Now, USFS is proposing to fundamentally alter the way motorized use is managed, by gutting the Travel Management Rule. In a Notice of Intent to revise the Rule, published August 24, 2026, the agency announced its plan to switch to an “open unless designated closed” default. Other changes would eliminate the minimization criteria, reduce public review opportunities in travel management planning, and “establish a requirement to consider new roads, trails, airfields, trailheads, and other access routes and points where appropriate to increase access.”
The proposed changes have drawn criticism from a broad coalition of interest groups. American Trails, which represents recreational trail users including hikers, bikers, horseback riders, and motorized users, expressed concerns that an “open unless designated closed” default could create confusion, conflicts, and safety hazards for trail users of all types. These concerns are echoed by other recreation and conservation groups, like Outdoor Alliance and The Wilderness Society, who likewise point to potential resource impacts including exacerbated landscape fragmentation, and damage to sensitive areas and wildlife.
The proposed overhaul would strain not only natural but financial resources. USFS already faces a $9 billion road maintenance backlog, a $300 million trail maintenance backlog, and a $229 million recreation backlog. A blanket expansion of motorized use would create even more maintenance demands that the agency is clearly not equipped to meet. On the ground, this could lead to unsafe trail conditions, as well as increased erosion and water pollution from trails not designed or modified to accommodate motorized use.
The August 24th Notice of Intent is the first step in the process to overhaul the current Travel Management Rule framework. (For context, this is approximately where the Roadless Rule repeal process was about one year ago. Both of these environmentally damaging proposals were initiated in response to Executive Orders from President Trump.) USFS is expected to publish the full text of the proposed rule change in the spring of 2027.
Chattooga Conservancy has joined a coalition of 128 conservation organizations in sign-on comments about the proposed Travel Management Rule change. There will be another chance to comment once the actual proposed rule change and environmental impact statement are published next year. We will let you know when this occurs! For now, it is worth considering the combined impacts of the Travel Management Rule changes and Roadless Rule repeal when you write your Roadless Rule comments.
Image: Gravel road, on the way to the river in fall. Credit: David Sibilio.