Comment on Roadless Rule|ORBA Legislative Director

ORBA Supports Returning Roadless Area Decisions to Local Forest Managers

The Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), powered by SEMA, has submitted comments supporting the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

For ORBA, the issue comes down to a straightforward principle: public lands are not one-size-fits-all, and the people managing them should have the flexibility to respond to the conditions on the ground.

The Roadless Rule established national-level restrictions affecting inventoried roadless areas across the National Forest System. The Forest Service’s current proposal would remove those blanket restrictions and return more decision-making authority to the normal land-management planning process at the individual national forest level.

That does not mean every roadless area suddenly gets a road. It does not automatically open new trails to OHVs, eliminate environmental review, or change congressionally designated Wilderness.

Instead, it gives local Forest Service officials the ability to evaluate what makes sense for an individual forest using current science, current conditions and public input.

Why Local Management Matters

America’s national forests are incredibly diverse. Wildfire risk, vegetation, wildlife habitat, watersheds, recreation demand, transportation needs and surrounding communities can vary dramatically from one forest to another.

A management decision that makes sense in one national forest may make little sense hundreds of miles away.

ORBA believes those decisions are best made through the established forest-planning process, where Tribes, state and local governments, recreation organizations, conservation groups and local communities have an opportunity to participate.

That flexibility is increasingly important when it comes to forest health and wildfire resilience.

ORBA is not advocating for roads to be constructed throughout inventoried roadless areas. In many locations, maintaining existing roadless characteristics may remain the best management decision.

But there are also places where fuels reduction, vegetation management, emergency response, road reconstruction or temporary access may be necessary to accomplish forest-health and wildfire-management objectives. Local land managers should at least have the ability to consider those tools when site-specific analysis shows they are appropriate.

What This Means for Motorized Recreation

There is also an important distinction for the off-road community: rescinding the Roadless Rule would not automatically open roads or trails to motorized use.

OHV access would still be determined through forest plans, travel-management decisions, route designations, Motor Vehicle Use Maps and environmental review.

What changes is the additional national-level restriction.

Removing it would allow local managers to consider issues such as route connectivity, recreation access, maintenance, stewardship and emergency needs through the existing planning process rather than having certain options effectively taken off the table by a nationwide rule.

Roadless Areas Are Not Wilderness

Another important point is often lost in the Roadless Rule debate.

An inventoried roadless area is not the same thing as congressionally designated Wilderness.

Congress has established specific statutory protections for Wilderness and other specially designated lands, and ORBA recognizes those protections. Inventoried roadless areas, however, should not automatically be treated as permanent de facto Wilderness through a nationwide administrative policy.

Their roadless character is an important consideration—but it should be considered alongside forest health, wildfire resilience, recreation, public access, watersheds, wildlife and other multiple-use priorities.

Better Decisions, Not Predetermined Outcomes

Ultimately, ORBA’s support for rescission is not about predetermining what happens in any particular forest.

It is about restoring the ability to make those decisions.

Public-land management works best when responsible officials can use current science, evaluate current conditions, hear from affected communities and determine what is appropriate for the individual landscape.

ORBA supports finalizing the proposed rescission and returning management of inventoried roadless areas to the individual national forest planning process.

For the off-road community, this is fundamentally about ensuring that responsible motorized recreation and public access remain legitimate considerations in the multiple-use management of our national forests.