The Trump White House is expected to post a “notice of intent” in the Federal Register this week to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, potentially opening 58.5 million acres of wild areas, including 4,000 in Texas, to industrial logging and development.
All 4,000 of Texas’ protected areas are in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Houston, which includes the popular Big Creek Scenic Area hiking, camping and fishing destination, according to environmental groups. The removal of the Roadless Rule would pave the way not just for logging in National Forest wild lands, but also further road development and increased oil-and-gas production activity.
“Texas’s wild forests are essential and beloved public lands and the Forest Service should not open them up to roads and development,” Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger said.
Beyond providing visitors with places to enjoy nature, roadless areas in Sam Houston National Forest protect clean drinking water for Houston-area communities and provide essential habitats for endangered species, Metzger added.
National environmental groups warn that the loss of the federal protections would allow the timber industry to clearcut important woodland areas to the detriment both of wildlife and communities that rely on clean water and park visitors for their livelihoods.
“Everyone who cares for America’s national parks and public lands should be deeply alarmed about attempts to dismantle the roadless rule,” Beau Kiklis, associate director of energy and landscape conservation for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an emailed statement. “This is nothing short of another brazen attempt to sell off America’s public lands, by opening up these forest lands for industrial logging, roadbuilding and other development.”
Once the U.S. Department of Agriculture posts its notice in the Federal Register, it will open up a 21-day public comment period on the proposed rollback.
Metzger said Environment Texas and other groups will use the comment period to fight to keep protections for the most sensitive forest areas, but he acknowledged that completely putting the brakes on the rule reversal would likely involve a court battle — something he sees as imminent.
Just the same, Metzger urged people to raise their voices during the comment period.
“Public land has broad support,” he said. “I think we have the opportunity to get the administration to understand this is not a fight they want.”
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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 2, 2025.
