Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a plan to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects 58.5 million acres of national forests from new roadbuilding. For the Pacific Northwest, this is devastating news.
For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has balanced public land use—allowing grazing, fuel reduction, motorized access, and even mining—while protecting the forests and rivers that sustain our fisheries. Rolling it back now would erase decades of progress.
What are Roadless Areas?
Roadless areas are the headwaters that feed our rivers—providing the cold, clean water salmon and steelhead need to survive. From Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, home to the largest runs of wild Pacific salmon, to roadless forests in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, these lands are critical to sustaining fishing opportunities that support our way of life and our economy.
What’s at stake?
Without the Roadless Rule, new roads and logging would erode streambanks, warm rivers, and fragment habitat, pushing already struggling salmon and steelhead runs closer to collapse. This would not only harm fish but also undermine the sportfishing traditions and outdoor recreation economy that thousands of families in the Northwest rely on.
What can be done?
We cannot afford to lose these protections. Contact your member of Congress today and urge them to oppose rescinding the Roadless Rule. Tell them to stand with anglers, salmon, steelhead, and the rivers that define the Pacific Northwest. Together, we can ensure these waters run strong for generations to come.
In order to submit your comments, you’ll have to submit a letter through the USFS comment portal through the following steps:
1. Using the link below, open the USFS comment page.
2. Cut and paste the draft letter below and put it into a word document for editing or directly into the text field on the USFS site. If you put it into a word document, you can also upload that word document directly to the USFS website.
3. Customize the letter below as much as you would like, this is just a starting point. You can reference forest lands you visit and share why they are important you. Per the USFS guidance, there is no need to include any personal information in the letter.
4. Click the Submit Comment button on the USFW website.
Letter
RE: Opposition to Proposal to Rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule
To Whom It May Concern,
On behalf of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders and our members across the Pacific Northwest, we write to strongly oppose any proposal to rescind or weaken the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (“Roadless Rule”). This policy has been one of the most successful conservation measures in recent decades, protecting nearly 58 million acres of undeveloped national forest land from unnecessary road construction and logging.
For more than six decades, the Association of Northwest Steelheaders has worked to conserve, restore, and advocate for the responsible management of fish, rivers, and the landscapes that support them. Our members—recreational anglers, families, and conservationists—depend on intact forest ecosystems to sustain clean water, healthy fish populations, and abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation. The Roadless Rule is a cornerstone of these values.
Roadless areas are vital to the survival of wild salmon and steelhead. These fish require cold, clean water, stable streambanks, and complex habitats that only intact forests provide. Road construction in sensitive headwaters degrades water quality by increasing erosion and sedimentation, fragments critical habitat, and raises stream temperatures—all of which threaten salmonid survival. At a time when wild salmon and steelhead populations are already under immense pressure from climate change, habitat loss, and declining ocean conditions, it would be shortsighted and irresponsible to roll back one of the few safeguards that protects these essential landscapes.
Beyond ecological benefits, roadless areas support a thriving outdoor recreation economy. In 2025, recreational fishing generated more than $5 billion in economic activity in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and supports thousands of jobs. Anglers, hunters, hikers, and local businesses rely on intact forested watersheds that provide clean water and healthy fish and wildlife populations. The Roadless Rule ensures that these values are protected for the long term, rather than sacrificed to short-term industrial uses.
The Association of Northwest Steelheaders urges the U.S. Forest Service to reject efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule. Instead, we encourage the agency to build on its success by strengthening protections for wild places and working collaboratively with states, tribes, and local communities to restore degraded habitat. The Roadless Rule represents a commitment to science-based conservation and the public trust. Weakening it would undermine decades of progress and jeopardize the future of our fish, our forests, and our communities.
Thank you for considering our comments. We respectfully request that the U.S. Forest Service maintain the full protections of the Roadless Rule.
Sincerely
[Name]
[Title
Association of Northwest Steelheaders
