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New Comment deadline on revocation of the 2001 Roadless Rule, EXTENDED DEADLINE

October 6 @ 9:50 pm - 9:59 pm

Complete Repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule 

Due Date: October 6, 2026 (Extended from September 21) 

Federal Register Notice: 91 FR 53827 – Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation 

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/11/2026-18648/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation

Unique Comment Submission Link: Regulations.gov Docket FS-2025-0001 / RIN 0596-AD66 

Comments, identified by RIN 0596-AD66, should be sent via one of the following methods:

  • Electronically (preferred): Through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://www.regulations.gov, identified by docket number FS-2025-0001 or RIN 0596-AD66. Follow the instructions for sending comments; or

  • Mail: Hardcopy letters must be submitted to the Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108, Washington, DC 20250-1124.

EXTENDED DEADLINE: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 9:59 pm Mountain (11:59 pm Eastern)

USDA proposes to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule, removing road-building and logging protections from about 45 million acres of national forest and grassland. That includes Beaver Park, Sand Creek and Inyan Kara on the Black Hills National Forest and roadless areas on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland such as Indian Creek and Red Shirt. The 2001 rule came out of an 18-month public process. This repeal got about six weeks of comment and no hearings outside Alaska. Please comment, either in your own words or with a ready-made letter from a national group. Add a sentence or two of your own either way, ideally naming a place you know.

Comment here: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS-2025-0001-223869

PHAS alert, with step-by-step instructions and ready-made letters: https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/PHAS_Roadless_Rule_Alert_FINAL_V11.pdf

or later version of the alert – https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/PHAS_Roadless_Rule_Alert_FINAL_V16-1.pdf

Also please go back to our posting for the Sept 21st deadline on our calendar for more info. We have a very long and more thorough discussion about the issue, at that original due date – https://phas-wsd.org/event/comment-deadline-on-trumps-proposed-revocation-of-the-2001-roadless-rule/  

Also visit this URL for state maps of Roadless Areas:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/planning/roadless/state-maps

and also in the PDF of  OUR  Roadless Alert.

This is very important in the Black Hills, which are so very aggressively over logged. We  need to keep our roadless areas.  Over the years PHAS has spent a lot of time and effort protecting the Sand Creek Roadless Area, including litigation to stop mine exploration (which we won). We helped work on the petition for status “Very Rare and Uncommon” designation – (a status awarded to protect special areas  from mining), in Wyoming (which we all lost and Wyoming revoked the VRU law for new areas).

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Here are links to the PHAS comments on the Roadless Rule Revocation.
LETTERS

1)The first is our unique original letter,

    2) the second a “sign-on” letter from John Muir Project we joined.

https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/PHAS_Roadless_Rule_Comments_FINAL_V7.pdf

ATTACHMENTS
The PHAS original letter had 19 attachments. I have learned that just giving a bibliography or giving links/URLs to references
does not get them into the Administrative Record, so I have started doing attachments.  I had notice the professional
groups doing this and did not understand why…now I do

Details

  • Date: October 6
  • Time:
    9:50 pm - 9:59 pm