Commissioners set to oppose Forest Service plan to scrap 2001 Roadless Rule

Teton County’s Board of County Commissioners is set to sign and submit a formal comment letter opposing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and urging federal officials to choose the “No Action Alternative” that would keep the rule in place Roadless Rule Formal Comment Letter.

In the letter, the board argues that rescission would drop a nationwide baseline that now applies to about 58.5 million acres of national forest, including roughly 315,575 acres in Teton County, and that the county wants “the Department select the No Action Alternative and retain the existing Rule.” The board also points to the Forest Service’s own draft analysis that “greater public access can increase human-caused ignition potential in some locations,” and frames its position as consistent with nearly 25 years of roadless-area policy and planning stability.