North Dakota Has 250,000 Acres That Could be Affected Under Federal Rule

United States Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. (Photo by Julia Goldberg/ Source NM via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – United States Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that her agency intends to repeal a 24-year-old rule that prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on 91,000 square miles of federal Forest Service land.

Rollins, speaking at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in New Mexico, said the protections President Bill Clinton imposed for “inventoried roadless areas” in 2001 hamper forest management and wildfire prevention. She also noted that repealing the ban would get more “logs on trucks” as the Trump administration seeks to rekindle a nationwide logging industry in federal forests.

“The heavy hand of Washington will no longer inhibit the management of our nation’s forests. Under the leadership of President Trump, this administration knows timber production is critical to our nation’s well-being,” Rollins said.

The announcement drew swift condemnation from several environmentalist groups, including the Wilderness Society and the Center for Western Priorities, which described it as a gift to private logging interests that undermines a long-successful conservation policy.