Montana
Montana's national forests hold some of the largest unbroken roadless blocks in the Lower 48, from the Bob Marshall complex to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, much of it estimated mature and old-growth forest.
California
California includes a large number of IRAs, some of which encompass forests with the highest probabilities of MOG forests. The rescission proposal appears to have targeted some of the most timber-rich of these areas with elimination of protections even under Alternative 3, the partial rollback. However, the very poor quality of USDA's maps included in the DEIS makes it difficult to determine the plan for many areas.
Utah
Utah's roadless national forest land spans the Wasatch, Uinta, and High Plateaus. The fire pattern holds here too: fewer ignitions inside roadless boundaries than just outside them.
Wyoming
Wyoming's roadless areas surround Yellowstone and the Wind River Range. Ignition density climbs once you cross into the first mile outside those boundaries.
Nevada
Nevada's national forest roadless areas sit in isolated mountain ranges that rise above the Great Basin desert. The partial rescission alternative would punch large holes in the highest lands in the state.
Washington
Washington's roadless areas cover wet, dense forest in the Cascades and Olympics, some of the highest old-growth cover of any state. Even here, ignitions increase near roadless boundaries.
Oregon
Oregon's roadless areas stretch from the Cascades to the Blue Mountains and the Klamath-Siskiyou. Ignition rates are higher within 1 mile of the boundary than inside it.
Alaska
Alaska's roadless areas are concentrated in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, in the southeast panhandle and south-central coast. These are the world's largest intact temperate rainforests and thus Alaska has a disproportionately large amount of roadless areas (25% of total IRA area nationwide) and mature and old growth forests (> 2 million acres). Alternative 3 would remove all protections of IRAs in the Tongass, but retain some in the Chugach. The Trump administration is attempting to reinstate the “2020 AK Roadless Rule” that opened the Tongass to logging. That rule was reversed by the Biden Administration in 2023.
Beyond these seven states
The pattern is not limited to the seven states above. Across every Western state with roadless national forest land, from Arizona and New Mexico to the Dakotas, the same gap shows up between roadless interiors and the land right at their edge.
Eastern roadless areas
Roadless areas east of the Mississippi are smaller and more scattered, from the Ozarks to the Appalachians to northern Maine, but with few exceptions, there are more fires outside the roadless areas than inside them.
Explore the map
Zoom and pan anywhere in the country. Switch between the forest-age view and the fire-ignition view in the top right.