Speak Up for Responsible Travel Management on Our National Forests
The U.S. Forest Service is considering major changes to how motorized activity is managed across America's national forests and grasslands, and we need you to weigh in.
For more than two decades, the USFS's Travel Management Rule has provided the framework for determining where motorized vehicles can travel on National Forest System lands. Those decisions have been made forest-by-forest, informed by local public input, resource conditions, recreation needs, and the best available science to balance public access with the conservation of fish, wildlife, and quality habitat.
Following President Trump's Executive Order 14408, USFS has issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) announcing plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and revise its travel management regulations. The NOI begins the first public scoping and comment period, giving hunters, anglers, and other public landowners an opportunity to tell the USFS what it should consider before developing a proposed rule and Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Per the NOI, the USFS is considering:
- Establishing an "open unless closed" presumption, meaning existing roads and trails could be presumed open unless a closure or restriction is required by law or justified by other circumstances.
- Removing existing national minimization criteria that currently direct managers to consider minimizing damage to soils, watersheds, vegetation and other forest resources; harassment of wildlife and significant disruption of wildlife habitat; and conflicts among recreational uses.
- Reconsidering closed or highly restricted routes, subject to available funding.
- Replacing the Minimum Road System requirement with an "adequate and appropriate" transportation system.
- Revisions to the procedures governing public participation, governmental coordination and monitoring associated with travel designations.
- Providing limited off-route motorized uses for activities such as downed big-game retrieval, dispersed camping and firewood collection.
- Excluding Class 1 e-bikes from treatment as motor vehicles under portions of the Travel Management Rule on trails where traditional bicycles are permitted, while retaining seasonal, site-specific and other management restrictions.
Access and Conservation Go Hand in Hand
Major decisions about the future of our national forests are taking shape right now. This rulemaking comes on the heels of the USFS's proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, another significant change affecting how our national forests are managed. Now is the time to speak up for durable, responsible access while ensuring that expanded recreational opportunity does not come at the expense of wildlife habitat, clean water, or the quality hunting and fishing these lands provide.
Taking action will add your name as a signer to BHA's petition, which we will submit to the U.S. Forest Service on the final day of the public comment period, and will also send a letter to your members of Congress and the White House. We strongly encourage you to take the additional step of submitting your own individual comment directly to the Forest Service through the Federal Register docket.