A last-minute amendment to a once-bipartisan wildfire bill would erase the 2001 Roadless Rule across 37 states and bar the Forest Service from ever writing a replacement.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 along party lines Wednesday to advance a bill that would eliminate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule across roughly 45 million acres of national forest in 37 states. The vehicle is S.140, the Wildfire Prevention Act sponsored by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY); the change came through a last-minute amendment from committee chair Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that nullifies the rule everywhere except Idaho and Colorado, which already operate under state-specific roadless rules. Lee’s amendment also bars the Secretary of Agriculture from proposing, finalizing, or enforcing any substantially similar protection in the future.
Wildfire Legislation Attaches to Roadless Rule
Lee filed the amendment late Tuesday night, according to Outdoor Life, and it carried Wednesday after a Democratic counter-amendment from Sens. Wyden, Cantwell, Padilla, Gallego, and Hirono to strip the repeal language failed 9-11. Ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) called the move out directly during debate. “We had a very bipartisan wildfire focused bill here. And now we have a very partisan bill,” Heinrich said. “The biggest issue here, I think the elephant in the room, is that this wildfire legislation became a trojan horse for the Roadless repeal.” Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) called Lee’s amendment a “poison pill.”
For anglers, the stakes are concentrated in headwater country. Trout Unlimited reports that 70 percent of the public land inside inventoried roadless areas holds native trout and salmon habitat — cutthroat in the Rockies, brook trout in Appalachia, salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. Native trout occupy 64 percent of the roadless acreage in Michigan and 90 percent of it in New Hampshire. TU also notes that 78 percent of human-caused fires on national forests start within a half-mile of a road, which cuts against the wildfire rationale the bill is built on.
The Pushback
The vote drew quick pushback on social media from the sporting and conservation groups that have been on this issue for months. Trout Unlimited told its Instagram followers Wednesday morning that “hunters and anglers have defended roadless areas for decades and we can’t let up now,” warning that the amendment would eliminate protections for tens of millions of acres of national forest. The position is consistent with where these groups have stood since the rescission effort began.
The amended bill now heads to the full Senate. Land Tawney of American Hunters and Anglers and Earthjustice Action both put the threshold for passage at 60 votes, and no floor vote has been scheduled. The committee action runs parallel to the administrative rescission USDA has been working since August 2025, when the agency published a notice of intent to rewrite the rule. Wednesday was the first time the repeal effort has cleared a congressional vote. Three weeks ago, when Trout Unlimited president Chris Wood testified before a House subcommittee against the parallel House bill, the repeal was still confined to a hearing room.
This is a developing story. See MidCurrent’s earlier coverage: Trout Unlimited Defends the Roadless Rule in House Testimony.
