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House hearing lays bare split over roadless rule repeal, timber targets and forest management
Summary
Lawmakers and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz sparred at a House hearing over the Trump administration's push to rescind the 2001 roadless rule, increase timber production and speed environmental reviews as a way to reduce wildfire risk and revive rural mills.
At a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands hearing on Sept. 10, 2025, members questioned whether rescinding the 2001 roadless rule and expanding timber production will reduce wildfire risk and revive wood-product markets or instead open roadless and wilderness areas to greater development.
The issue mattered to both parties because it ties wildfire risk, local economies and longstanding environmental protections to competing remedies. Proponents said regulatory streamlining and longer timber-sale contracts will deliver supply certainty and private investment; critics warned that rolling back protections risks habitat loss and more logging in sensitive backcountry.
Chief Tom Schultz, the head of the U.S. Forest Service, told the…
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