Earlier this week, the Trump Administration's US Department of Agriculture announced that it would be revoking the "Roadless Rule," and a certain group of supposed off-road advocates that may or may not have ties to Utah's Senator Mike Lee, who's crusade against public lands will mark him as one of the most hated figures in modern American politics, is calling the revocation a win.
It's not.
The original Roadless Rule "establishes prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System land," which basically means that the federal government can't just plop a road onto any parcel of public lands it wants to. That, however, is now out the door, as it's become one of the battlegrounds for public land advocates as the administration, as well as those like Mike Lee, want to open it up for timber harvesting and throwing in new roads to access mineral, gas, and oil deposits located on public lands.
