While the Wilderness designation is a great tool for protecting our most beautiful landscapes, unfortunately, designated Wilderness areas currently preclude mountain bike access. However, there is a powerful federal land protection tool that does include mountain bikers, known as the “Roadless Rule.”
What is the Roadless Rule?
The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule is a U.S. Forest Service regulation passed in January 2001 under the Clinton administration. Its purpose was to conserve over 58 million acres of inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System by restricting most road construction, road reconstruction, and commercial logging in those areas. However, recreation — including motorized recreation, in some areas — continues to be allowed, as is fire suppression and existing mining and oil and gas extraction.
About half of National Forest land is already open to drilling, logging, and mining. Another 18% is protected as Wilderness, and the remaining 30% is protected by this rule as Roadless Areas.
According to the Outdoor Alliance, within the 58 million acres of protected Roadless Areas are 26,647 miles of trails, 19,596 of which are open to mountain bikes. In addition, there are some 8,743 rock climbing routes and bouldering areas and 782 miles of whitewater paddling runs.
Simply put, the passage of the Roadless Rule was a massive win for outdoor adventurers, and especially mountain bikers.
The Roadless Rule is set to be rescinded
Unfortunately, the Roadless Rule is under threat. On June 23, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that she plans to rescind the roadless rule. A press release posted on USDA.gov reads in part:
This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands. Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.
This rule is overly restrictive and poses real harm to millions of acres of our national forests. In total, 30% of National Forest System lands are impacted by this rule. For example, nearly 60% of forest service land in Utah is restricted from road development and is unable to be properly managed for fire risk. In Montana, it is 58%, and in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest in the country, 92% is impacted.
Rollins went on to say, “It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”
Despite Rollins’ assertion that rescinding the rule is about managing the land for forest fire risk, fire management is expressly allowed under the existing roadless rule. Instead, the real purpose of the proposed rule change is to restart commercial logging on millions of acres of National Forest. The press release spins the current prohibition on logging as “[hurting] jobs and economic development across rural America.”
MTB trail impact
As noted above, some 19,596 miles of mountain bike trails could be impacted by logging and road construction if the rule is rescinded. Roadless areas are found in 42 states, meaning that there’s probably a bike-legal trail in a National Forest near you that could be impacted by resource extraction.
To put it in perspective, the Orogenesis Trail — the longest mountain bike trail in the world — passes through 87 Roadless areas.
To find the roadless area closest to you, check out this map published by the Outdoor Alliance.
Organized opposition to Rollins’ rescission
The Outdoor Alliance, in conjunction with IMBA, has been rallying outdoor adventurers of all stripes to file a public comment in opposition to the rescission before September 19, 2025.
“Roadless areas on our country’s National Forests comprise some of the most outstanding outdoor recreation areas anywhere,” said Louis Geltman, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at Outdoor Alliance. “These are the landscapes where adventure is really possible and where you can go to truly be in awe of our National Forests. Attempting to roll back the Roadless Rule would be a short-sighted, and deeply unpopular assault on America’s public lands values.”
Geltman is right that it would be deeply unpopular. The original Roadless Rule proposal drew 1.6 million public comments, which was, at the time, more comments than any rule had ever received. Of those comments, over 90% were in favor of the rule.
Despite Rollins’ announcement, it’s still possible to prevent the rule from being rescinded. For example, earlier this year, public land sales across the Western USA were removed from a Congressional bill after widespread outcry. The Outdoor Alliance alone coordinated over 100,000 letters to lawmakers. And the opposition was bipartisan: hunters and anglers on both sides of the aisle were widely opposed to the land sales, according to reports.
It’s likely that the Roadless Rule could see just such a united opposition, as increased logging and road construction would also have a detrimental impact on hunters and anglers.
Have your voice heard by submitting a public comment today. The Outdoor Alliance has made it easy with a quick action form, which you can find here.
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