On Tuesday, the federal government announced its intention to remove restrictions on road construction in more than 44 million acres of national forests, including more than 1.6 million acres in New Mexico's Carson, Cibola, Coronado, Gila, Lincoln, and Santa Fe national forests. Called the Roadless Conservation Area Rule, it has been in effect since 2001.
If that happens, new roads could be constructed in all national forests except for those in Colorado and Idaho because those states have their own state-specific roadless regulations. New Mexico, however, has no such regulations.
So, last fall, in response to the federal government’s plan, the entire New Mexico congressional delegation sent a letter to Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requesting New Mexico be excluded. They argued getting rid of the rule would hurt New Mexico's "economy, diminish its wildlife, and endanger its residents," but were unsuccessful.
The federal government argues in its announcement that the Roadless Rule raises wildfire risk. But several research studies have concluded otherwise. For forests specifically in Western U.S. states such as New Mexico, researchers found “no significant difference in fire severity between roadless areas and roaded areas” after accounting for the variables that influence the fire environment, including temperature, precipitation, slope, elevation, and vegetation.
Indeed, the federal government also says the plan to eliminate the Roadless Rule is in alignment with several of President Trump’s executive orders signed last year, including Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production,Unleashing American Energy, and Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential.
As of publication, the Federal Register’s website, Regulations.gov, has not published the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule, so the public cannot view it nor comment on it. Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Agriculture bulletin says "Public comments must be received by midnight on Sept. 21" and further "Information will be available Aug. 19 on the Forest Service Roadless Areas webpage."
