June 12, 2026 2:50 a.m. 

This week Senate Republicans blocked an amendment offered by Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, during a Senate committee vote to preserve a 25-year-old rule that Wyden claims protect more than 58 million acres of national forest and public lands across Oregon and the country from new road construction, mining, logging and other environmentally harmful commercial projects.

A release from Wyden said in Oregon alone, nearly 2 million acres are protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, including outdoor recreation areas surrounding the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood National Forest.

Wyden said a 2026 study covering three decades of national wildfire data found that wildfire ignition within 50 meters of roads is four times higher than non-roadless forests. Roadless areas have the lowest fire ignition of any land category, according to the release.

Wyden said, “There certainly are instances where you need active management”. This was during Wednesday’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. Wyden continued, “But when people hear that the Roadless Rule is being wiped out, they say nobody’s going in there with a scalpel. They’re going in there more with a cannon”.

The legislative package containing the Republican provision to repeal the “Roadless Rule” passed out of committee 11-9 over unanimous Democratic opposition.