Forest Service chief explains why the administration wants to repeal the Roadless Rule

KEY POINTS

In a conversation with Deseret News, the Forest Service chief explains why the Roadless Rule should be repealed.

Tom Schultz says leaving wild spaces alone is not the same thing as management.

Repealing the rule is an effort to ensure the land's multiple use mandate is protected and that wildfire risks are mitigated.

For Tom Schultz, the 21st chief of the U.S. Forest Service, repealing the Roadless Rule is not a matter of ideology but rather a matter of “common sense land management.” Leaving land alone and letting nature run its course is not management, Schultz explained, but a “false narrative.”

“The idea that if I care about something, I walk away from it,” Schultz said. “I guess I don’t buy that.”

The Roadless Rule was a landmark decision made in 2001 by the U.S. Depa