Wildfires and the Roadless Rule

One of the excuses the Trump administration offered for moving to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule that protects over 60 million acres of US Forest Service lands -- our lands -- was to provide more road access to fight wildfires. But a new study published in the journal Fire Ecology, and summarized in Inside Climate News, reviewed the history of wildfire ignitions from 1992 to 2024 and found that wildfires were four times more likely to ignite within 50 meters of a road than in a forest without motor vehicle routes. Greg Aplet, forest ecologist and lead author on the study noted, "We found the exact same result in every Forest Service region across the entire National Forest System."

And fire ignitions drop steeply with distance from roads, the study found.

People are the dominant source of ignitions. We cause 89 percent of wildfires nationwide. More roads bring more humans and consequently more fires into areas that previously had no road access.

The Roadless Rule has played a vital role in protection of watersheds, clean water, and wildlife habitat. It limits invasive species spread and preserves quality wildland recreation and solitude. As it turns out, it also helps reduce wildland fires.

As our fire seasons become longer and forests more flammable due to climate change, rescinding the Roadless Rule ignores science and will make wildfires worse. The Trump administration's action is little more than a giveaway to extractive resource industries. That's not stewardship of America's public lands.

Fortunately, rescission of the rule is in flux, not yet final. Watch for future opportunities to comment on this issue.