LAKE TAHOE
After the 2025 announcement of the planned rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which has protected forests and wildlands from development for the past 25 years, the Trump administration and U.S. Forest Service will be proposing new legislation that opens national forests like Tahoe’s to construction, logging, and resource extraction. The proposed rule has yet to be released, though groups like the Sierra Club expect it to be shared in the coming weeks, along with a draft environmental impact statement.
In anticipation of the deregulation, the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter held a town hall in South Lake Tahoe on May 13 to advocate for the protection of the Roadless Rule and gather public comments for a coming public comment period.
The Roadless Rule was first enacted in 2001 after the Forest Service struggled to keep up with road maintenance and management, and conserves 45 million acres of forest land throughout the country from development, including the national forests in and around the Tahoe Basin. The Forest Service still has a backlog of billions of dollars on repairs needed for road maintenance.
Last June, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the intended rescission of the rule. Rollins described the Roadless Rule as an “absurd [obstacle] to common sense management of our natural resources.” Though backcountry areas are now at risk of development, they remain protected for now. The final ruling, environmental impact statement, and record of decision are expected in late 2026. A public comment period will precede the final decision.
According to Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter Director Olivia Tanager, the public still has a chance to engage, organize, and pressure the government to reverse the rescission before protections are formally removed.
“One reason that the Roadless Rule has survived for more than two decades across multiple administrations is because people have consistently defended it,” Tanager told the crowd of about 40 in attendance. “This moment is about more than just one policy. It’s about whether public lands will continue to be managed with ecosystems held in trust for future generations or increasingly treated as industrial resource extraction zones.”
The deregulation aligns with the administration’s desires to expand extractive American business such as logging, according to a 2025 press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organizations, coalitions, and politicians have fought to protect Lake Tahoe from the very development and extraction that would result from the repeal of the Roadless Rule.
Six speakers joined the town hall, including Backcountry Alliance Executive Director Anthony Cupaiuolo and retired U.S. Forest Service Hydrologist Sue Norman. They each shared the importance of conserving forests in Lake Tahoe.
“The public should not be on the hook to build more roads that are only going to benefit the extraction industry,” Cupaiuolo said.
He acknowledged the privilege of access to public lands in Tahoe. Once there’s more development and more roads, however, Cupaiuolo noted that those areas will be closed off.
Though the U.S. Department of Agriculture says increased road creation will allow for greater forest management, the capacity of the Forest Service is already overwhelmed since the February 2025 layoff of 10% of its staff and budget cuts for fiscal year 2026.
“The Roadless Rule continues to have value as an environmental policy designed to keep significant areas within a watershed relatively unroaded,” Norman said. “The Forest Service needs continued robust funding to maintain the staff and resources required to maintain the existing road network and conduct the necessary work to reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire while protecting ecosystem values like clean water and healthy streams.”
The Sierra Club encourages members of the public to submit comments ahead of the public commentary period in support of the Roadless Rule. A petition can also be signed on the Sierra Club website.
~ MR