August 18, 2026
Contact: Bill Rodgers (he/him)
Communications, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, (330) 881-9918 | bill.rodgers@sierraclub.org
Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Statement on Gutting of Federal Roadless Rule
Forests, Water Resources, Communities at Risk as Comment Period Opens
ALBUQUERQUE – On Tuesday U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the U.S. Forest Service had filed a proposed rule to rescind in its entirety the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
If the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is repealed, 45 million acres of pristine national forests across the country (1.6 million acres in New Mexico) would be opened up for the first time in more than 20 years to road building and the logging, mining, and extractive industries that come with that. These lands are not only key recreation areas for New Mexicans, but they are the source of clean water for communities around the State.
The filing touches off about one month of public comments. Public comments will be accepted until midnight on Sept. 21 and local organizations will lead town hall hearings throughout the state to be announced in the coming month. Though the Trump administration has demonstrated a willingness to steamroll public land protections, the Roadless Rule remains very popular, with more than 600,000 people voicing their support in comments last year. The New Mexico congressional delegation is in strong support of the rule as well, issuing a letter to the administration in September 2025 to demand New Mexico be exempt from any Roadless repeals.
It is the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter’s goal to demonstrate to this hostile administration and their cronies in extractive industries that New Mexicans will not allow their lands to be given away and despoiled.
“We are asking residents to sign our action alert and add their names to the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who want their lands to remain protected. The Chapter encourages New Mexicans who feel discouraged to remember this regime will not be in power forever, and action today puts us in a better position to work with future administrations whose priorities are in line with the will of the people,”
said Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Director
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
A comment period was organized to receive public input on the Trump administration’s proposal to revoke the Roadless Rule, a policy enacted in 2001 that protects nearly 60 million acres of national forests across 36 states and Puerto Rico. In June 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the administration’s plan to repeal the rule, which would open these wild landscapes to roads and development. A brief public comment period was held in fall of 2025 and received more than 600,000 comments – 99% of which supported retaining the Roadless Rule.
The two-decade-old rule protects against new roadbuilding and the extractive industries that roads can lead to, such as logging and mining, in backcountry forestlands that have been undisturbed by major development. During the process that resulted in the original 2001 rule, the U.S. Forest Service held more than 600 public meetings over the course of 18 months to help inform the policy.
Roadless forests offer people a wide range of recreational activities, provide wildlife with much-needed habitat and range connectivity, and protect the headwaters of rivers which are vital for maintaining clean drinking water nationwide. Rescinding the Roadless Rule nationally would increase logging and other destructive, extractive development in public forests that currently function as intact ecosystems to benefit wildlife and people alike.
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Read the proposed rule change
Roadless areas web page
Sign the Sierra Club action alert