What the Repeal of the U.S. Forest Service 2001 Roadless Rule Could Mean for Tuolumne County

Public Comment Ends September 21 at 11:59 pm EST/9:00 pm PDT.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced in August that the U.S. Forest Service filed a proposed rule to rescind in its ENTIRETY the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (“Rule”), citing wildfires in the West. This rollback affects 45 million acres of National Forests, including 104,600 acres in Tuolumne County within the Stanislaus National Forest (1).

Why is this so significant? Tracy Stone-Manning, president of the Wilderness Society, called the proposed rescission “the single largest rollback of conservation protections in our nation’s history” (2). Because the Department of Agriculture established the rule through administrative regulation, the Forest Service can reverse it without Congress’s permission (1).

The original Rule protected areas from development, preserved large ecosystems, and provided high-quality recreational opportunities for the public. It identified roadless lands exhibiting 1) high quality or undisturbed soil, water, and air; 2) sources of drinking water; 3) diversity of plant and animal communities; 4) habitat for threatened, endangered, and sensitive species as well as habitat for species that depend on large, undisturbed tracts of land; 5) areas that provide access to dispersed recreation; 6) land used as ecological benchmarks; 7) landscapes with high scenic quality; and 8) traditional cultural properties and sacred sites. These lands do not include designated wilderness areas. New road construction, road reconstruction, and commercial timber harvesting in “inventoried roadless areas” are prohibited. Motorized travel is permitted only on existing roads. Some wildfire risk reduction work, such as prescribed burning, firefighting, and public safety measures, is allowed.

How Would the Removal of the 2001 Roadless Rule Affect Tuolumne County?

Much of the acreage potentially affected is familiar to those of us who hike, fish, horseback ride, camp, and hunt. Within Tuolumne County, GIS Forest Service data identified nine inventoried roadless areas, including:

1. Bell Meadows. Bell Meadow and Pine Valley, south of Dodge Ridge.
2. Carson-Iceberg. Clark Fork high country adjoining the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, generally north of Highway 108.
3. Cherry Lake area. Undeveloped land north and northeast of Cherry Lake towards Hells Mountain, excluding Cherry Lake.
4. Double Dome Rock. Includes surrounding high country, principally south of Highway 108.
5. Eagle Meadow, Eagle Creek, Eagle Peak. Land between Highway 108 and the Emigrant Wilderness.
6. Night Cap Peak. Area between Kennedy Meadows and Sonora Pass along the northern boundary of the Emigrant Wilderness.
7. North Mountain. The ridge immediately west of Yosemite and above the Tuolumne River.
8. Tuolumne River. Undeveloped canyon slopes along the river east of Groveland.
9. Waterhouse. Rugged backcountry above and east of Pinecrest Lake, around Catfish Lake and Cleo’s Bath adjoining the Emigrant Wilderness.

See map.

The Forest Service’s response to my inquiry about the Rule was noncommittal and simply explained its rulemaking process. Much of how this major shift in forest management will affect Tuolumne County and the other counties within the Stanislaus National Forest (Calaveras, Alpine, Mariposa) remains unknown. But a review of the plan summary suggests additional reasons to repeal the Rule. The Forest Service hopes to allow timber harvesting on at least 16 percent of the protected lands. This appears to respond to executive orders from President Trump and legislation from Congress to increase domestic timber production significantly.

When Congress passed the “Big Beautiful Bill” in January 2025, it imposed minimum timber-sale requirements on the Forest Service. The bill also requires the Forest Service to enter into 40 long-term sales contracts, each lasting at least 20 years (3).

The draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) summary states that most tribal governments oppose repealing the Rule. They view the repeal as a threat to their inherent rights, cultural survival, tribal sovereignty, and the ecological integrity of their ancestral homelands. They point out that the blanket repeal of the Rule shifts “an unsustainable burden of project-level review onto their limited resources.”

The draft EIS acknowledges potential temporary impacts to recreational and related industry opportunities, including noise, visible infrastructure, and temporary closures, but estimates only a one percent reduction in visits and a loss of $9.1 million per year nationwide. Previous (2019) Forest Service estimates indicated $73 million in visitor expenditures in our four-county area (Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa, Tuolumne) (4).  A 1% drop in visitor expenditures would mean a loss of $730,000 in the Stanislaus National Forest alone.

Granted, increased fuel treatment programs and commercial logging could bring more lumber industry to our area. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau report about 411 timber-related jobs (logging, forestry support, wood products manufacturing) in Tuolumne County (5).  Local industry leaders estimate 75 truck drivers are employed in the logging/wood products industry.

So, as concerned citizens, what are our options?

Go to the government website to submit comments. So far, more than 750,000 submissions have been received, overwhelmingly opposing repeal of the Rule.

The comment period expires September 21 at 11:59 pm EST/9:00 pm PDT. Public comments can be left here. No public hearings have been scheduled. Concerned citizens can also contact their U.S. Representatives and Senators in addition to writing a letter to the Forest Service before September 21 or commenting electronically on the Forest Service webpage.

Organizations opposed to the repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule

• Central Sierra Environmental Resource Council
• California Council of Trout Unlimited
• CalTrout
• Sierra Club
• California Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
• The Yosemite Rivers Alliance
• Trout Unlimited
• Wilderness Society
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Earthjustice
• Center for Biological Diversity
• Outdoor Alliance
• National Congress of American Indians

Public Comment Ends September 21 at 11:59 pm EST/9:00 pm PDT.

Notes

1. “USDA acts to remove roadless rule restrictions that exacerbate rising wildfire risk,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 18, 2026.
2. ”USDA delivers formal notice, opens short comment period, to strip protections from 45 million acres,” Attack on Roadless Forest Officially Underway, The Wilderness Society, August 27, 2025.
3. “Public Law 119-21– July 21, 2025,” Authenticated US Government Information GPO.
4. “Forest Level Economic Contributions Dashboard, 2019,” Forest Service US Department of Agriculture.
5. “Quarterly census of Employmnet and Wages,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
6. OTHER SOURCES
7. “Special Areas: Roadless Area Conservation,” Regulations.gov.