Trump Rescinds Protections on 59M Acres of National Forest to Allow Logging
June 24, 2025 | Source: The Guardian | by Cecilia Nowell
The Trump administration will rescind protections that prevent logging on nearly a third of national forest lands, including the largest old growth forest in the country, the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, announced on Monday.
The announcement will be followed by a formal notice rescinding the “roadless rule”, a nickname for the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, in coming weeks, the Associated Press reports. The rule prohibits road building and logging on all national forest land without roads, accounting for about 59m acres (24m hectares) of US national forest land.
Rollins shared the news at a gathering of the Western Governors’ Association in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where hundreds had gathered outside to protest against congressional efforts to sell off large swaths of public lands. There, the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, spoke of a new “era of abundance” on public lands, describing Donald Trump’s efforts to extract more natural resources for domestic manufacturing.