Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the door to mining, drilling, and logging in New Mexico’s last unroaded forests, threatening the drinking water of communities across the Southwest 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

August 20, 2026 

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Today, the U.S. Forest Service opened a 33-day public comment period on a proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This 25-year-old federal rule has kept 45 million acres of national forest land, including 1.6 million acres in New Mexico, free from industrial logging and permanent road construction. New Mexico Wild is mobilizing residents across the state to submit public comments in defense of the Rule before the window closes.

Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open forests across the country to mining, oil and gas drilling, and other industrial extraction that the Rule’s road-building prohibition has kept out for a quarter century. In New Mexico, that includes roadless areas within the Gila, Lincoln, Cibola, Santa Fe, and Carson national forests. These areas sit at the headwaters of rivers that supply drinking water to communities across the Southwest; they provide critical habitat for wildlife and migratory birds; they hold mature and old-growth forests and tribal cultural resources; and they anchor an outdoor recreation economy that supports jobs statewide.

“Contrary to USDA’s public commentary, this isn’t really about wildfire or road maintenance; it’s to open the door to mining, drilling, and logging in wild places that have been off-limits for 25 years,” said Bjorn Fredrickson, Conservation Director at New Mexico Wild. “Once you build a road into a roadless area, you’ve opened it up to industrial extraction, and the wild character of that land is gone for generations, if not forever. New Mexicans have fought to keep these forests roadless because our drinking water, our wildlife, and our way of life depend on it. We’re not going to let that be undone in a rushed, 33-day process with zero public meetings.”

The Forest Service’s proposal comes with none of the community engagement that shaped the original rule — which was developed following 600 public meetings and 1.6 million public comments in 2001. The agency is holding zero public meetings on the rescission and offering only token public comment opportunities. So New Mexico Wild is holding its own public meetings across the state to allow people to share their voices, learn what’s at stake, and submit comments in person. New Mexicans can find updates about these events at nmwild.org/get-involved/events. 

The administration has cited wildfire risk as justification for the rescission, but federal wildfire data does not support that rationale. The Roadless Rule already allows for fire suppression, restoration, thinning, and fuel reduction, and wildfires are roughly four times more likely to start near roads than within roadless areas. The Forest Service sits on a multi-billion-dollar, and growing, backlog of deferred road maintenance, which is only getting worse in the face of longstanding annual budget cuts, harming both water quality and public access as unmaintained roads erode and become impassable. American taxpayers simply cannot subsidize the construction of additional roads on National Forest System lands in the face of such severe maintenance needs.

How New Mexicans can take action:

• Submit a public comment through the New Mexico Wild comment tool urging the U.S. Forest Service to retain the Roadless Rule in full. People can also submit a comment directly to regulations.gov. 
• See what’s at stake by viewing New Mexico Wild’s interactive map of New Mexico’s Inventoried Roadless Areas. This map helps New Mexicans see exactly which forests near them are at risk. 
• New Mexico Wild will host events across the state throughout the comment period to help people take action and submit public comments in person. Dates and locations will be announced soon, so stay tuned to nmwild.org and New Mexico Wild’s social media channels for details.

The public comment period runs from August 20th through September 21st. New Mexico Wild is urging every New Mexican who has hiked, hunted, fished, camped, or simply enjoyed time in our state’s national forests to make their voice heard before the comment period closes.

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