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Senator Wyden urges committee to protect 58 million acres by backing roadless-rule amendment
Summary
Senator Wyden urged the Senate Committee to support his amendment to preserve the roadless area conservation rule, saying a 2026 study showed wildfire ignitions are roughly four times higher within 50 meters of roads and that repeal could threaten iconic Oregon landscapes.
Senator Wyden urged members of the Senate Committee on Finance to support his amendment to preserve the roadless area conservation rule, saying the provision under consideration would effectively nullify protections for about 58 million acres of national forest.
Wyden said the rule has protected ‘‘some of America’s most iconic outdoor recreation areas’’ and named Oregon sites including the Cascade lakes around Mount Bachelor, Iron Mountain and old-growth forests on Mount Hood as examples of places that could be decimated if the rule were repealed. He told the committee that repealing the rule would allow more road building into previously roadless areas.
Wyden cited what he described as a 2026 study of three decades of National Forest System wildfire data and summarized its finding: "wildfire ignition density within 50 m of roads is roughly four times higher than in non-wilderness, non-roadless forest." He said wilderness and inventory roadless areas had the lowest ignition densities of the land categories studied.
At the same time, Wyden said there are instances that require active management and urged a careful, case-by-case approach. He said he is working with Senator Budd on prescribed fire efforts as one part of future management, but argued that an across-the-board repeal would be the wrong approach.
"When people hear that the roadless rule is being wiped out, they say nobody’s going in there with a scalpel. They’re going in there more with, you know, a cannon or something," Wyden said, urging more precise policy tools rather than broad revocation of protections.
Wyden concluded by asking the committee to back his amendment to protect the roughly 58 million acres covered by the roadless rule and then yielded back the floor. The transcript does not record a vote on the amendment in these segments.
What happens next: Committee members signaled they would respond and debate the amendment; Senator Barrasso was noted to respond next and Senator Perdue requested to speak after Senator Cantwell, indicating further consideration of second-degree amendments and debate ahead.
