Environmental groups are questioning an effort by Sen. Mike Lee and other congressmembers to rescind the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of public lands.
Wildfire prevention is at the heart of the debate, but environmentalists say it doesn't have to be.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was enacted during the Clinton administration after nearly two years of public hearings and more than one and a half million comments. It restricts new construction, reconstruction, and commercial timber harvesting.
Several Senate Republicans, including Sen. Lee, are pushing an amendment to the Wildfire Prevention Act of 2025 that would do away with the Roadless Rule, arguing that it impedes wildfire mitigation efforts.
But environmental groups point to other legislation meant to provide solutions and funding for communities to protect themselves.
Ellen Montgomery with the group Environment America thinks removing the Roadless Rule is less about fire protection and more about profit.
"They really should be two totally separate issues. We really shouldn't be trying to figure out how to make money from our public lands at the same time as we're trying to figure out how to protect communities," Montgomery said.
Lawmakers have introduced alternatives like the "Fix Our Forests Act," which was meant to improve forest management but has stalled in the Senate. Environment America doesn't think it will adequately address wildfire mitigation.
Montgomery favors alternatives like the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act, introduced by California Rep. Jared Hufman, which would provide community grants for creating defensible spaces and home mitigation.
"I think they should be talking about how to protect communities from fire, not talking about rolling back policies that have been in place for more than 25 years," Montgomery said.
While the federal rule covers millions of acres in more than half the states across the country, Idaho and Colorado have opted for state-specific rules to protect wild lands with specific protections that consider local conditions and priorities.
Sen. Lisa Merkowski of Alaska supports this option despite an executive order that exempts the Tongas National Forest from the Roadless Rule.
That's one of two executive orders the president has signed as part of a separative initiative to do away with the Roadless Rule.
The other aims to streamline what the administration has called "overcomplicated, burdensome barriers" that hamper American business and innovation.
The Forest Service is working on an environmental impact statement studying the effects of rescinding the rule.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona, and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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