The U.S. Department of Agriculture will open up public comments on Friday on its plan to repeal a 24-year-old rule that prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on 91,000 square miles of federal Forest Service land. … The National Parks Conservation Association said throwing out the rule would allow for increased oil and gas leasing and other harmful development on public lands that can destroy or disrupt habitats, increase erosion and worsen sediment pollution in drinking water.

Other Roadless Rule news:

• California Trout: Blog: Why the roadless rule matters in California – protecting our last wild places
• Phys.org: Trump administration presses rollback of ‘Roadless Rule’ on wild lands
• The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): Trump admin moves to strip protections on 4 million acres of national forests across Utah