Conservation Update Fall 2025
Protecting Roadless Areas
The federal government has announced its intention to rescind the National Roadless Rule, a longstanding policy that protects millions of acres of backcountry forests from road building and industrial logging. The Roadless Rule has been critical in safeguarding drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities, while saving taxpayers the burden of maintaining unnecessary roads.
Unfortunately, the justification for rescinding the rule relies on inflated and misleading data. For example, the administration claims that 24.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas fall within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), where fire threatens communities. In fact, the actual figure is closer to 2.8 million acres—about 5% (The Wilderness Society GIS analysis, 2025). This distortion creates a false narrative that roadless areas are a direct risk to homes.
Equally troubling is the claim that logging roadless areas will reduce wildfire risk. Science shows the opposite: more roads increase human access and ignition risk. Studies indicate that over 90% of wildfires occur within half a mile of a road, and wildfires are four times as likely to start near roads than in roadless forests (Syphard et al., PNAS, 2007; The Wilderness Society, peer-reviewed analysis 2025). Effective fire safety focuses on creating defensible space around communities, rather than industrial logging in remote back country areas. The Roadless Rule already allows fuel management and fire safety measures, without industrial logging.
Roadless areas also remain critical for carbon storage, wildlife habitat, and clean water. National forests provide drinking water to more than 60 million people across the U.S., and protecting headwaters in roadless areas helps maintain this vital supply. The public has long supported the protection of these last intact forest areas. Now is the time to make your voice heard.
The UW website offers numerous resources on the Roadless Rule, and one of the most valuable is roadless.org. For more information and resources, please visit the Umpqua Watersheds website.
https://umpquawatersheds.org/information-about-the-roadless-rule-2025/
Deadline: September 19
Submit your comments urging the federal government to keep the Roadless Rule in place. Protect our forests, water, wildlife, and recreation. We encourage you not to wait until the last minute—your support in gathering petitions or motivating others to comment can make a real difference.
You can comment through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://www.regulations.gov, identified by docket number FS-2025-0001. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
There is a proposed legislation to protect roadless areas by codifying it into law. The Roadless Rule and Conservation Act has the support of Oregon Senators (thank them for that), and some members of the House of Representatives have not publicly come out in support of the legislation. Please ensure that your representatives are aware of your support for and encouragement to co-sponsor the legislation.
42 Divide Timber Sale
A comment period for the 42 Divide Timber Sale near Camas Valley is open and comments are due by Sept 15. This sale includes 8800 screws of public forest land with significant amounts of older forest targeted for removal. The 42 Divide Forest Management Plan Environmental Assessment is posted on ePlanning. BLM previously cancelled the ePlanning page for the 42 Divide Forest Management Plan to allow for more time to align the environmental analysis with the Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation timeline and to conform with the new DOI NEPA Handbook formatting requirements and significance considerations. All previous comments collected with the original ePlanning number will be retained in the project record.
To comment visit https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2040077/510 and select the “Participate Now” green button.