On Aug. 24, commemorating the annual observation of National Park Week, President Trump proclaimed, “My administration is committed to protecting every acre of our lands.” Four days later, it became clear that this is not true.
That’s when the news broke that the Trump administration has been secretly negotiating to give a chunk of Yosemite National Park to a developer (coincidentally a Trump donor) so he can punch a private road through the park to increase the value of his adjacent property. The last time this was tried, the Sierra Club helped defeat it in court. The administration furiously denied the granular reporting of the very detailed story, just as the developer’s attorney was happily confirming it.
A few months ago in this column, we discussed the Trump administration’s plan to strike down the federal Roadless Rule—a federal policy that has been protecting 45 million acres of national forest land across 37 states from new road building, logging, mining, and other development for the last 25 years. Many of the roadless areas do have roads; the rule just restricts new roads, particularly those intended for extractive uses. These natural areas provide clean drinking water, critical wildlife habitat, carbon storage, and recreational opportunities across the country.
The administration claims that it’s repealing the rule to reduce wildfires, but the truth lies in the Forest Service’s own finding that building roads in backcountry forests will likely increase wildfires. A peer-reviewed scientific study from The Wilderness Society found that wildfires are four times more likely to start near roads than in roadless areas.
The real story becomes even clearer as Trump releases executive orders mandating expansion of timber and energy production and his allies attempt to insert public land sell-offs into legislation. Repealing the Roadless Rule is one more way to dismantle protections for wildlife and increase private exploitation of public lands, in service to the administration’s vision of pillaging wildlands. Trump’s interior secretary made it clear that they regard our forests as nothing but financial assets on “the nation’s balance sheet.”
When the Roadless Rule was developed 25 years ago, it was informed by a 129-day public comment period, which included more than 600 public meetings. Tribes, local governments, community members, industry, recreation interests, and conservation organizations engaged directly with the Forest Service. Communities had a meaningful opportunity to ask questions, provide testimony, and ensure the administrative record reflected the perspectives of those directly affected. This transparent, accessible public engagement process was essential to maintain public confidence in the Roadless Rule and ensure the agency fully considered the impacts of the proposed policy.
In the Trump administration’s rush to repeal the Roadless Rule, they have done no meaningful public outreach. Only 32 days are allotted for public comment, with no public meetings. We are trying to get the deadline for public comment extended. This is a gesture of contempt to the American people who depend on healthy national forest lands for their lives and livelihoods and who deserve the opportunity to weigh in meaningfully.
That same contempt is evident as the Trump administration tries to cut the heart out of the Endangered Species Act, slash national monuments, and strike down California’s coastal protections. All with fake emergencies and false pretexts to mask an unswerving devotion to the administration’s billionaire backers and corporate America, while making it worse for everyone else.
This is a gesture of contempt to the American people who depend on healthy national forest lands for their lives and livelihoods and who deserve the opportunity to weigh in meaningfully.
All is not lost. We have until Sept. 21 to tell the Trump administration that we support the Roadless Rule and value protected national forests. Join hundreds of thousands of others inundating the administration with opposition to this plan and protecting our public forests from irreversible damage.
But why bother sending your comments to an administration that clearly doesn’t care what you think? For the same reason that 164 bipartisan members of Congress just went on record opposing repeal of the Roadless Rule: because we are stronger when we do the right thing together. Because there have been many attacks on the Roadless Rule over the years and they have all failed due to public pushback. (Public pressure is already having an impact on the Yosemite land swap deal.) Because your comments help sway decision-makers and create an administrative record that will support legal action. Most importantly, because we honor the generations who safeguarded these forests before us, and we carry a trust responsibility to ensure our children and grandchildren inherit healthy forests.
Please submit your comments defending the Roadless Rule to the U.S. Forest Service before 8:59 p.m. on Sept. 21. If you only have five minutes or less to submit comments, please do so at sc.org/RoadlessRule.
Find out how to do send a longer comment here: roadless.org/roadless-comments. ∆
Gianna Patchen is chapter organizer for the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Andrew Christie served as chapter director from 2004 to 2023. Send a letter for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Student Guide 2026.
