Environmental groups push back on planned removal of federal forest protections

OLD FORT, N.C. — Deep in the Pisgah National Forest are thousands of acres only accessible by foot. These are called “roadless areas” and for decades, the federal government has protected them from industries like logging.

In August, the USDA made moves to change that, proposing a rule change that would rescind the so-called “roadless rule.” They argue this would open up more economic opportunities and allow local leaders to come up with plans to properly manage their forests, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Groups like MountainTrue argue this is going to put millions of acres of the country’s wildest areas of forest at risk for very little potential benefit.

Josh Kelly, the nonprofit’s resilient forests director, brought WSOC’s climate reporter Michelle Alfini on a hike in one of the roadless areas along Curtis Creek in Pisgah, the headwaters of the Catawba River.

“Roadless areas tend to have the healthiest forest and the highest quality fish and wildlife habitat, and produce the cleanest water of all of our National Forest Lands nationwide,” he said.

Keeping the land that way was intentional. When the Clinton Administration enacted the roadless rule in 2001, it barred logging and the construction of new roads in these areas. Kelly said it was a way of protecting the land for future generations.

Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins argued the rule went too far. In her announcement of the rescission on August 18, Rollins said the rule takes forest management out of the hands of the people who know the land best and leaves our forests vulnerable to wildfire.

“Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” she said.

Kelly disagrees with that assessment. He argues there is forest maintenance in roadless areas, including prescribed burns and wildfire management. Additionally, wildfires are rare in roadless areas.

“Over 90% of fires are started by people and those fires are started near roads,” he said.

He also argues the economic question is more complicated than the value of the potential timber the Forest Service can harvest.

Harvesting timber would mean building new roads, and maintaining those roads. Not only is that expensive in and of itself, but it could also have a negative impact on water quality and local recreation.

“[With the roadless rule] you’re saving money on those treatment costs,” Kelly said. “You don’t have to worry about it being polluted because there’s no industry or anything around the pollute the water. There’s no roads or anything around to send mud into the water.”

Kelly said new logging in the Catawba headwaters could mean more work for communities downstream, like Charlotte, that rely on the Catawba for their drinking water.

He also questions whether there’s even to target these areas for harvest.

“In the current forest plan, over 50 percent of the land base, half a million acres, is available for timber harvest,” he said. “These roadless areas are so remote and so rugged. They are the last places anybody really wants to cut timber. Even if there are big trees there, it’s just so hard to get to them.”

The U.S. Forest Service is accepting public comment on the proposed repeal on its website until Sept. 21.

©2026 Cox Media Group