Forest Service Hiking Trails Under Threat by Travel Management Rule and Roadless Rule Proposals
August 27, 2026
In a double whammy to hikers and trail users, the Forest Service is proposing a repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule and drastic revisions to the 2005 Travel Management Rule.
Taken together these proposals could upend over 50 years of precedent and access that hikers have relied on across National Forests.
Flipping the Script: The Threat of the Travel Management Rule
The Travel Management Rule was put in place to ensure long-term sustainable use by motorized and non-motorized recreationists, de-escalate user conflicts, and minimize the potential negative consequences of such use including impact to wildlife, watersheds, fisheries and other recreational uses of our national forests.
Notice of Intent turns the presumption for permitted use on its head potentially opening the flood gates for motorized use on non-motorized trails
While the NOI maintains parts of the framework of the Travel Management Rule, reversing the presumption of motorized use flips the TMR on its head. The Travel Management rule was built upon fifty years of established standards. The rule relies on a standard that trails are closed to motorized vehicles unless explicitly opened. The proposed revisions would flip this to open to motorized vehicles unless explicitly closed for all new trails and an annual review of trails that are closed to motorized use.
For non-motorized users, this means the trails you and your family have enjoyed and stewarded for half a century could be opened to unintended uses—putting your safety at risk and forever changing your experience in nature.
This proposal would open a Pandora's box of devastating consequences for all user groups, both motorized and non-motorized. This would reopen old wounds and ignite new issues related to user conflict, visitor safety and pose challenges to the maintenance of trails by volunteers and partners.
The Forest Service must reject this 'open unless closed' proposal in the final rule.
Limiting the Public Process
The NOI to the Travel Management Rule raises questions about continued public participation in the decision making process. The Notice of Intent indicates that minor, clerical changes, or iterative adjustments would no longer be subject to a public review process, and that only “substantive” changes would need to go through environmental reviews like NEPA or other reviews that afford the public an opportunity to engage. A proposed rule must define minor, clerical changes, or iterative adjustments in ways that do not exclude the public from decisions that impact trail access or use type determinations.
For example, would a use change that opens access to motorized use for a 1-mile stretch of trail at the trailhead of a 20-mile long trail be “substantive” if it only impacts five percent of a total trail length despite the impact to all non-motorized users?
Removal of minimization criteria through a “nationally applicable access policy” without clear replacement that protects the criteria’s underlying goals
The longstanding minimization criteria ensures that the forest planning teams consider important issues beyond merely user needs or desires when making route designation. These include impact on the environment, wildlife, conflict mitigation between user groups and vehicle classes, and conditions on the ground. When applied objectively, these criteria have worked over the years to shield the agency from challenges of arbitrary decision making.
Modification or replacement of these criteria through a “nationally applicable access policy” must ensure that the underlying purpose of the criteria can still be achieved.
E-bike Permissions Need Further Clarification
Additional information and a clear indication that e-bike use should continue to be made on a site specific basis is needed.
Roadless Rule Proposed Rule
The proposed rollback elimination of the 2001 Roadless Rule jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system. These forests have only remained intact because of the Forest Service's nearly 25-year-old commitment not to build roads in these areas for harmful activities like major logging operations or oil-and-gas drilling.
Based on data provided by All Trails and Outdoor Alliance, over 25,000 miles of trails and 5,651 trail routes across 37 states, would be at risk with the rescission of the Roadless Rule. In the last year alone nearly three million hours were spent recreating on these trails.
Protected roadless areas have offered abundant outdoor recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, camping or other activities. Large sections of the Continental Divide, Pacific Crest, Arizona, and Appalachian National Trails traverse protected roadless areas.
What hikers, horseback riders, and the trails community can do
American Hiking Society is developing a comment tool for both the Travel Management Rule and the Roadless Rule for hikers to make their voices heard.
Hikers and all trail users are encouraged to make their voices heard by submitting comments on both the Travel Management Rule (Submit here by September 23, 2026) and the Roadless Rule (Submit here by September 21, 2026).
American Hiking Society will be submitting comments and providing additional resources to the trails community over the coming days and weeks.