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. The 235 IRAs in Montana, spanning more than 6.3 million acres, hold 3.4 million acres of probable mature and old growth forest. Under Alt 3., over half of the Roadless Areas would cease to exist.
California
California has the most IRAs of all states (382), with 1.5 million acres of probable mature and old growth forest. The Alt. 3 partial rescission proposal targets some of the most timber-rich areas, with 58% of Roadless protections potentially disappearing.
Utah
Utah's roadless national forest land spans the Wasatch, Uinta, and High Plateaus. The fire pattern holds here too: 61% more ignitions within 1 mile of roadless boundaries. With 4 million acres of roadless areas in Utah, over three quarters of those lands (3 million acres) would lose protection under the proposed Alt. 3 plan.
Wyoming
Wyoming's roadless areas surround Yellowstone and the Wind River Range. Roughly half of Wyoming’s 3.2 million acres of roadless areas contain potential mature and old growth forests. As in other states, ignition density is higher outside IRAs, with 34% more fires in one mile of roadless areas than within their borders. Under the Alt. 3 plan, nearly two-thirds of roadless areas in Wyoming would be lost.
Nevada
Nevada's national forest roadless areas sit in isolated mountain ranges that rise above the Great Basin desert. Alt. 3 would punch large holes in the highest lands in the state, removing over 40% of Nevada’s 3.2 million roadless acres, all within the already-fragmented Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.
Washington
Two million acres of roadless areas span across Washington's wet, dense forest in the Cascades and Olympics, including some of the highest old-growth cover of any state. Even here, ignitions occur 43% more often outside roadless boundaries than within. Alternative 3 would eliminate protections for a large proportion of forests.
Oregon
Oregon's 1.9 million acres of 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 roadless areas. If Alt. 3 became the law of the land, Oregon would lose 70% of its roadless areas to potential logging, experiencing increased fire risk and other human-caused degradation.
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 according to a study by authors from the US Forest Service). Alternative 3 would remove 65% of Roadless Areas from Alaska, including all roadless prohibitions from the Tongass, and 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 majority of the USA's Roadless Areas are concentrated in the western half of the country, so they have the most to lose if the rule is rescinded. Over 16 million acres of Roadless Areas could become subject to the whims of political appointees and logging executives, instead of being key places for birdwatching, offroading, and other recreational opportunities in our public lands. With more roads comes a much greater risk of fire, as 64% more ignitions occur just outside Roadless Area boundaries than within them.
Eastern roadless areas
From the Ozarks to the Appalachians to northern Maine, roadless areas east of the Mississippi are smaller and more scattered, but with few exceptions, there are more fires outside the roadless areas than inside them. Under Alt. 3, three-quarters of roadless acres and most individual areas would be lost, including large portions of roadless forest in New Hampshire's White Mountain NF that surround the iconic Mt. Washington.
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.