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Proposed repeal of ‘Roadless Rule’ could open Michigan national forests

Thousands of acres of currently protected national forest land in Michigan could be opened to road construction and logging under a proposal from the U.S. Forest Service to rescind a 25-year-old rule.

The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which restricts road construction and timber harvesting in designated roadless areas, currently protects about 16,000 acres of roadless forest land across the Huron-Manistee, Hiawatha and Ottawa national forests in Michigan. They are among nearly 45 million acres of inventoried roadless areas nationwide which would see protections eliminated under the proposal to rescind the rule, filed Wednesday for publication in the Federal Register.

"For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities," Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement.

Environmental advocates dispute that assertion and say new roads would actually increase opportunities for human-caused fires.

A 2025 study by The Wilderness Society determined that the "highest wildfire-ignition density was in lands within 50 meters of roads," and that "building roads into roadless areas is likely to result in more fires."

Additionally, Ellen Montgomery, Great Outdoors campaign director for Environment America Research & Policy Center, noted earlier this year that less than 1% of wildfires in the lower 48 states since 2010 have started in roadless areas of national forests.

"As Americans are planning how to spend their time outside in our public lands this fall, the Forest Service is proposing to open our wild forests to logging and new roads," Montgomery said in a statement issued Wednesday. "We call on all Americans to submit public comments over the next 30 days. To keep America beautiful, let's ask the Forest Service to keep our wild forests wild."

According to the proposed rescission, the Forest Service estimates that permanent roads could potentially be built across 18.2 million acres currently covered by the Roadless Rule, while temporary roads could be built across another 11.3 million acres.

Calvin Floyd, conservation advocate for Environment Michigan, said the proposal could affect some of Michigan's remaining mature and old-growth forests.

"Spread across the Huron-Manistee, the Hiawatha and the Ottawa National Forests on both peninsulas, Michigan's roadless forests protect some of the last mature and old-growth trees in the Midwest," Floyd said in a statement. "These forests filter headwater streams that flow into the Great Lakes, which hold 20% of the world's fresh surface water."

Floyd added that the areas in question also provide critical habitat for wild animals such as bobcats, martens and deer.

"If we lose our roadless forests, we lose part of our heritage as Michiganders," he said.

The public has until Sept. 21 to comment on the proposed rescission.

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