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Trump moves to repeal rules protecting millions of acres of federal forests

WBUR
Published August 20, 2026 at 10:04 AM MDT
A wrangler overlooks aspen trees with their autumn colors, near Jacks Cabin in the Slate River Valley near Crested Butte, Colo. while gathering the Spann cattle from the U.S. National Forest lands. (Nathan Bilow/AP)
Nathan Bilow/AP
A wrangler overlooks aspen trees with their autumn colors, near Jacks Cabin in the Slate River Valley near Crested Butte, Colo. while gathering the Spann cattle from the U.S. National Forest lands. (Nathan Bilow/AP)

The Trump administration is moving to repeal a 25-year-old rule that has protected federal forests from road building and logging for two decades.

The “roadless rule” is a President Bill Clinton-era wilderness policy that protects nearly 45 million acres of federal land.

Mike Dombeck, former chief of the Forest Service from 1997 to 2001, joins us to discuss.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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