Bill Summary
The "Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025" aims to provide permanent protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. This legislation recognizes the ecological and social significance of these areas, which are vital for maintaining healthy watersheds, supplying clean water, preserving biodiversity, and offering recreational opportunities.
The Act emphasizes the importance of protecting these areas from road construction and logging, as they serve as habitats for wildlife, spaces for outdoor activities, and sites of cultural significance for Native American and other communities. It aligns with the Forest Service's mission of managing lands for multiple uses while ensuring that existing roadless areas remain undisturbed. By safeguarding these regions, the Act seeks to support local economies dependent on recreation, mitigate wildfire risks, and maintain the integrity of natural ecosystems.
Possible Impacts
The "Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025" could affect people in several important ways. Here are three examples:
1. **Access to Recreation Opportunities**: The protection of inventoried roadless areas would preserve vast landscapes for outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, and wildlife viewing. This would benefit individuals and families who enjoy outdoor activities, as well as local economies that rely on tourism and recreation-related spending. Communities near these protected areas could see an increase in visitors, leading to greater revenue for local businesses.
2. **Water Quality and Supply**: By maintaining the health of watersheds in roadless areas, the Act would help ensure a consistent supply of clean water for millions of Americans. This is particularly significant for communities that rely on these watersheds for drinking water, agricultural use, and industrial needs. Protecting these areas could save downstream communities significant costs in water filtration and treatment, thereby benefiting residents and businesses dependent on reliable water sources.
3. **Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation**: The Act aims to protect habitats for numerous imperiled species and maintain native biodiversity by preventing landscape fragmentation caused by road construction and logging. This is crucial for ecosystems and wildlife populations, and it can also enhance the quality of life for people who value nature and wildlife. Additionally, efforts to conserve these areas can contribute to ecological health, which is vital for agricultural productivity and sustainable resource management in the long term.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3930 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3930
To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the
National Forest System.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 11, 2025
Ms. Salinas (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Brownley, Mr.
Casten, Ms. Chu, Ms. Craig, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Ms. DeGette, Ms.
DelBene, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Lofgren, Mr.
Mullin, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Quigley,
Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Stansbury, and Ms. Tokuda) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and
in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the
National Forest System.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Roadless Area Conservation Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) In General.--Congress finds that--
(1) there is a compelling need to establish national
protection for inventoried roadless areas of the National
Forest System in order to protect the unique social and
ecological values of those irreplaceable resources;
(2) roadless areas protect healthy watersheds and the
numerous benefits of healthy watersheds, which include--
(A) providing the setting for many forms of outdoor
recreation;
(B) ensuring a supply of clean water for domestic,
agricultural, and industrial uses;
(C) providing drinking water to tens of millions of
citizens of the United States; and
(D) helping maintain abundant and healthy fish and
wildlife populations and habitats;
(3) maintaining roadless areas in a relatively undisturbed
condition--
(A) saves downstream communities millions of
dollars in water filtration costs; and
(B) is crucial to preserve the flow of affordable,
clean water to a growing population;
(4) the protection of roadless areas can maintain
biological strongholds and refuges for many imperiled species
by halting the ongoing fragmentation of the landscape into
smaller and smaller parcels of land divided by road corridors;
(5) roadless areas conserve native biodiversity by serving
as a bulwark against the spread of nonnative invasive species;
(6) roadless areas provide important backcountry fish and
game habitat, creating opportunities for hunting and commercial
and sport fishing;
(7) roadless areas provide unparalleled opportunities for
outdoor recreation, including hiking, camping, picnicking,
wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing,
canoeing, mountain biking, and similar activities;
(8) while roadless areas may have many wilderness-like
attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the use of mechanized
means of travel is allowed in many roadless areas;
(9) roadless areas contain many sites sacred to Native
Americans, Alaska Natives, and other groups that use roadless
areas for spiritual and religious practices and access,
including customary and traditional uses and activities;
(10) from the inception of Federal land management, the
mission of the Forest Service has been to manage the National
Forest System for multiple uses, including resource
utilization, conservation, and other uses;
(11) consistent with the multiple-use mission described in
paragraph (10), this Act--
(A) ensures the continued protection of social and
ecological values, while allowing for many multiple
uses of inventoried roadless areas; and
(B) does not impose any new limitations on--
(i) inventoried roadless areas; or
(ii) the use of, or access to, National
Forest System, State, or private land outside
inventoried roadless areas;
(12) enacting a law for the protection of inventoried
roadless areas--
(A) provides additional reliability to areas with
recreation-based economies that depend on public land
without roads for jobs, revenue, and consumer spending;
and
(B) encourages forest managers to continue giving
priority to conducting fuel reduction treatments in the
areas in which the treatments will have the most
impact;
(13) wildfires are almost twice as likely to occur in
roaded areas as in roadless areas, because roadless areas are
generally located further away from communities and are harder
to access;
(14) the Forest Service has an enormous backlog of
maintenance needs for the existing 368,102-mile road system of
the Forest Service that will cost $5,980,000,000 to eliminate;
and
(15) continued protection of roadless areas will continue
to allow for the development of hydropower projects.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide, within the
context of multiple-use management, lasting protection for inventoried
roadless areas within the National Forest System.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Inventoried roadless area.--The term ``inventoried
roadless area'' means any area in which road construction, road
reconstruction, or logging is subject to regulation under the
Roadless Rule.
(2) Roadless rule.--The term ``Roadless Rule'' means part
294 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, as adopted on
January 12, 2001, and modified for Idaho on October 16, 2008,
and for Colorado on July 3, 2012, and December 19, 2016.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS.
The Secretary shall not allow road construction, road
reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area where those
activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule.
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