Conservationists want Congress to do more to protect New England’s roadless areas

As the period for public comment on the proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule draws to a close, some conservationists want Congress to do more. 

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which dates to 2001, prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in remote areas of national forests across the country. A proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture would remove those federal limitations on the allowed uses of roadless areas. 

Most roadless areas, which total more than 58.5 million acres, are concentrated in the West, but not all; within New England, New Hampshire hosts the largest amount, with about 235,000 acres in the White Mountain National Forest designated as roadless.

The proposal is “the existential threat in the fire-hose assault on our public lands right now,” said Jeffrey Swayze, a New Hampshire guide and mental health counselor at White Mountains Community College in Gorham, who described the potential repeal as “unconscionable.”

Swayze was impressed by the volume of comments that have been submitted on the proposal so far. As of Sept. 30, the total number of comments on the rule’s online docket was more than 522,600; the current comment period runs until Oct. 6. But he said the “chaos” around the proposal, coupled with the strength of the public’s response, called for Congress to act with force to keep the rule intact.

“This is an opportunity for New Hampshire’s congressional delegation to start really speaking up, and this is one thing that I think Congress hasn’t done,” he said. “They talk tough, but they act weak, and I don’t think they’re using the power that they have.”

The Trump administration has defended the rollback, saying the change would free up wildlands for broader use, including by extractive industries, like timber harvesting and mining. The change would leave decisions about roadless area management to local forest managers, the U.S. Forest Service wrote in the proposal.

Critics say the move would jeopardize the most pristine wilderness areas remaining in the country, with broad consequences for people and wildlife. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was originally implemented to protect sources of clean drinking water and undisturbed soil and air; diverse plant and animal communities; species that depend on large, undisturbed and connected areas of land; and the traditional, cultural and recreational value of remote landscapes, according to the Forest Service.

The New Hampshire chapter of the Sierra Club supports efforts to codify the 2001 Roadless Rule into federal law, said Catherine Corkery, chapter director. That is what the Roadless Area Conservation Act, a bill proposed in 2025 by Washington Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell, aims to do. By enshrining the rule in federal law, the measure would require an act of Congress to enact future changes, rather than the rulemaking process through which the USDA is currently moving to rescind the regulation.

The Sierra Club was involved in efforts to support the Roadless Rule when it was first proposed in the early 2000s, Corkery said, and within the last few months, thousands of its members and supporters nationwide have submitted comments opposing the rollback. Locally, over 1,000 people attended virtual and in-person “mock hearings” hosted by the New Hampshire Sierra Club chapter, speaking about the importance of roadless areas, she said. 

“We support the rule and the legislation to codify the rule,” she said. 

Swayze said he wanted to see protections for the White Mountain National Forest’s roadless areas become a more central ballot issue this fall than it had been during primary campaigns.

New Hampshire’s current congressional delegation has expressed support for the Roadless Rule, including through multiple letters sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service opposing the rule’s repeal. 

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Congressman Chris Pappas, who is now a candidate for New Hampshire’s Senate seat, said he would continue to support the rule if elected. 

“Repealing the Roadless Rule threatens the health of our most important lands, forests and ecosystems, and it would disrupt the balanced approach developed 25 years ago with exhaustive input from stakeholders and the public,” Pappas said in a late September statement to the Bulletin. 

He criticized the Trump administration’s attempts to remove the rule as “reckless.” He did not respond to a question about whether he would support efforts to codify the rule in federal law. 

Discussion about the Roadless Rule has leaned partisan both federally and locally. Pappas’ Republican competitor for the Senate seat, John E. Sununu, did not respond to questions about the roadless rule sent by email. New Hampshire’s Republican candidates for Congress, Lily Tang Williams and Anthony DiLorenzo, similarly did not respond to roadless rule inquiries.

Maggie Goodlander, who is running for reelection against Williams to represent New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, criticized what she said was a chaotic move that could harm New Hampshire’s forests and tourism industry. The timeline given for the repeal, she said, was too abbreviated, with insufficient chances for the public to weigh in. 

In the early 2000s, the roadless rule was implemented after more than 600 public meetings and with written input in the form of more than 1.6 million comments, Goodlander said. Official public meetings were not held on the proposed rescission, on which the public was initially given 30 days to comment before the period was extended by an additional 15 days. 

“That’s simply not a reasonable timeframe or approach to make reasoned and informed choices about rules that could have generational consequences,” Goodlander said. 

She raised concerns about the impact on taxpayers of funding and maintaining new roads in the national forest; the Forest Service is already facing a maintenance backlog, she added. She went on to say she would continue to oppose the closure of Forest Service experimental forests, like Hubbard Brook and Bartlett Experimental Forest in the White Mountains, and oppose reorganization and staffing cuts at the Forest Service. 

However, Goodlander said she did not support the Roadless Area Conservation Act.

“The answer to a chaotic rescission from Washington is not a permanent freeze from Washington,” she said. 

Stefany Shaheen, who is running against DiLorenzo to represent New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, said she supported the Roadless Rule and opposed its rescission, but she did not comment on whether she would support putting it into federal law. 

Swayze said he believed voters would prioritize New Hampshire’s forest lands this fall.

“These are our lands, and we haven’t been vocal enough about demanding that our federal government manage and steward them in a way that’s responsible,” he said. “… I want the idea that public lands are for sale to the highest bidder to go away.”