Protect the Roadless Rule

Sep 11

3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Where we're going, we don't need (more) roads

MMBC members enjoying a break at Alpine 7

For Montana mountain bikers, remote singletrack is our solace. It’s on bikes that we access our wild country preserved within the Roadless Areas. That protection is now at risk.

With so much public land, it can be hard to conceptualize what is at stake. The Roadless Rule impacts roughly one-third of National Forest Service managed lands—roughly six million acres in Montana—and almost 11,000 miles of mountain bike-accessible singletrack nation-wide. Here are some of our local backcountry trails that meander through designated Roadless Areas:

Warm Springs Complex at Lost Trail Pass: Warm Springs Ridge, Colter Creek, Porcupine, Fire Creek, Warm Springs Creek
Palisades/Willow Creek
All of Rock Creek outside of Welcome Cr W
Carlton Ridge and Mill Creek
Petty Mountain and Albert Creek
Alpine 7

If the Roadless Rule is rescinded, all of those backcountry riding areas will be at risk of being fragmented by roads, demolished for extraction, sold to privateers, or polluted with endless construction noise.

For mountain bikers and many other trail users, these legacy backcountry trails in Roadless Areas are our version of wilderness. Just 20 minutes outside town, we can ride Carlton Ridge and hike to summit Lolo Peak, or be the first to hit Mill Creek after MMBC clears the trails for spring. Western Montana, and Missoula in particular, is a magical place due to our backcountry trails and our access to them via bike.

Formally known as the Roadless Areas Conservation Rule, the legislation was enacted in 2001 to protect National Forests from not only new roads being built but also new extractive sites.

The USDA, which runs the National Forest Service, has justified their desire to rescind the Roadless Rule by declaring that roads prevent forest fires. But the Forest Service’s own findings concluded that 90% of wildland fires happen near roads. What rescinding the Roadless Rule really delivers its foes is a chance to pave the way (sorry) for more extractive industries to pollute our air, disrupt our solitude, and stress wildlife.

I can’t read tea leaves very well (it's Carolyne writing this if you couldn't tell), but I lived in Pittsburgh when fracking came to town, and those jobs my neighbors were promised did not go to Pittsburghers. Instead, we saw more out-of-town license plates at the drill sites and more for-sale signs on houses.

So what can you do? The public comment period has been extended to October 6, so take a moment today to write in with your thoughts. In addition to your reasons to protect roadless areas, here are some points we think are important for our federal government to consider:

Actively maintain the undeveloped, backcountry character of Roadless Areas, recognizing that their value is rooted in a sense of remoteness, quietude, and connection to nature.
Prioritize high-quality trail access and recreation experiences that sustain local economies and provide meaningful, low-impact outdoor opportunities.
Apply the principles of Avoidance, Minimization, and Mitigation to ensure any future projects avoid impacts to existing trails where possible, minimize disruption where avoidance is not feasible, and fully mitigate any unavoidable impacts.
Ensure balance rather than dominance in future resource development, so that infrastructure or extractive uses do not overwhelm the recreational and ecological values that define these landscapes.
The wild, remote backcountry character of Roadless Areas are what make Montana unique and are important to the culture of the West. More than that, it’s how mountain bikers get a “Wilderness” experience on a bike.

Comments may be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://www.regulations.gov, identified by docket number FS-2025-0001 or RIN 0596-AD66, or via this handy IMBA form.