Trump’s USDA Wants To Throw Decades-Old Rule On Scrap Heap

August 19, 2026 1:21 PM ET The Trump administration paved the way for new roads Tuesday, moving to demolish a “roadless rule” with its origins in the waning days of the Clinton era.Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Forest Service filed a proposal to fully rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation statement, which restricts road construction and certain timber activities in designated national forest areas.The Roadless Rule currently covers more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treat