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29:00

Plans to roll back roadless rule threaten a New England forest

The federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been in place since 2001, but is under threat. In August, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her agency’s plans to rescind the rule “in its entirety.”

The roadless rule currently prohibits road construction, logging and mining on about 30% of the nearly 200 million acres of land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The rule mostly applies to forested areas of the West, but a unique area in the White Mountains along the border of Maine and New Hampshire could have its landscape changed.

Mallory Cheng headshot
Producer
Kaitlyn Budion
Reporter, Maine Morning Star
Headshot of newsletter writer Danielle Gaines
Senior National Newsletter Author