The Roadless Rule Rescission - What happens in Idaho?

As discussions swirl around the potential for the 2001 Roadless Rule to be rescinded, almost 60 million acres of national forests across the country may lose the title of Roadless. What does this mean for Idaho? And how does it impact (or not impact) roadless areas in Idaho?

Let’s briefly break it down.

Where we are:

In late August, the USDA Forest Service initiated rulemaking and public comment concerning management of inventoried roadless areas on approximately 58.5 million acres of National Forest System lands, including in Alaska. The proposed rule would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule) (66 FR 3244, 36 CFR Subpart B (2001)), which prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas, with limited exceptions. 

What is the 2001 Roadless Rule?

This rule, adopted after years of public engagement, generally prohibits activities such as new road construction, road reconstruction, oil and gas production, mining, and timber harvest in identified and inventoried Roadless areas. This rule has been subject to controversy over the years - supporters say it safeguards the last remaining undeveloped and unfragmented landscapes and provides protections for clean water, wildlife, and backcountry recreation opportunities. Opponents point to the rule as overly restrictive, burdensome, and running contrary to forest health needs. Roadless areas across the nation have provided hunters and anglers with exceptional opportunities in a largely undisturbed setting, but hunters also understand that there are areas that require roaded access for forest management, fire management, and recreational access. In short, it’s complicated. 

What about Idaho’s Roadless Areas? 

Idaho often does things in an Idaho way. We cannot and choose to not fit into a box or have blanket approaches apply to our state. This is no exception. Idaho has its own Roadless Rule, separate from the 2001 Roadless Rule. Should the 2001 Roadless Rule be rescinded, Idaho’s Roadless Rule would continue to stand - at least for now.

In 2006, then Governor (now Senator) Jim Risch submitted a petition under the Administrative Procedure Act to develop the Idaho Roadless Rule. After review, the Idaho Roadless Rule was finalized in 2008, and has been upheld in court since. This rule is the product of collaboration the Idaho way - conservationists, county commissions, tribal nations, and the forest and mining industry all came together to find a plan that could work for Idaho. The rule is a compromise - and that’s why this rule works. It brought everyone to the table, and is a product of everyone’s work. And that’s why it’s widely supported. 

Generally, the Idaho Roadless Rule conserves the undeveloped and unroaded character of Idaho roadless areas through five themes. These five themes provide limited exceptions and prohibitions on management such as road construction/reconstruction and timber harvest across almost 9 million acres. These themes, from “least restrictive” to “most restrictive” are:

• General Forest, Rangeland, Grassland

• Backcountry/Restoration

• Primitive

• Special Areas

• Wildlife Recreation

These themes generally reflect the quality of habitat. So, in general, the higher the quality of habitat, the more restrictive the Idaho Roadless Rule is. Idaho Roadless Areas closer to human development or communities generally were placed under themes that allows for temporary road construction and logging for hazardous fuel treatments to cut down on wildfire risk. Areas further away may be more hands-off. Roads that are constructed to allow for active management and subsequently decommissioned enables a level of flexibility not found in the 2001 rule that applies across much of the rest of the nation.

Hunters get why this approach makes sense - we know that much of our forest land benefits from responsible active management, but we don’t want our spots way back in the backcountry to have new, permanent roads punched through them in a way that degrades the carrying capacity of the landscape. Those areas are generally where our cherished big game species live and it’s why we endure gruelling packouts miles away from a road. Studies have shown that elk actively avoid areas near open roads; elk vulnerability to mortality increases as open road density increases, and in areas of higher road density, elk exhibit higher levels of stress and increased movement rates¹. That’s why IWF is a big supporter of the Idaho Roadless Rule. It allows for the active management that our forests need while maintaining quality backcountry habitat. 

On the national side, just because Idaho would not be immediately impacted by a potential rescission of the 2001 doesn’t mean that Idahoans shouldn’t still make their voices heard during the comment period. As it stands now, the alternatives are a full repeal of the rule and a “no action” alternative. Those are binary options in a highly nuanced issue. There is opportunity to comment and recommend a wider range of options, learning the lessons of the past 25 years of management under the rule. 

We value the Idaho Roadless Rule, and it works for us. Many of us hunt in Idaho Roadless Areas. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t express our views on large scale changes in management across the nation. We encourage productive discussions - just as we did in the formation of the Idaho Roadless Rule, all parties can come together and find ways to make things work. We encourage you to submit your comment on the 2001 Roadless Rule Rescission by September 19, 2025. 

 ¹ Rowland, Mary M.; Wisdom, Michael J.; Johnson, Bruce K.; Penninger, Mark A. 2004. Effects of roads on elk: implications for management in forested ecosystems. In: Transactions of the 69th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference: 491-508