Photos by Eddie Sherman
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unprecedented show of unity, Tribal governments and inter-tribal organizations across the country are standing together against the Trump Administration’s attempt to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. With the adoption of Resolution #SEA-25-102 at NCAI’s 82nd Annual Convention in Seattle (November 16-21, 2025), and a parallel resolution (#2025-49) passed by ATNI at its Annual Convention in Suquamish, Washington, this October, Tribal leaders are demanding the Trump Administration immediately halt the Roadless Rule rescission process. Both resolutions represent a collective voice of sovereign Tribal governments across the country that unequivocally oppose the rescission as “a violation of treaty rights, trust responsibilities, and federal law,” citing the Administration’s failure to comply with USDA Departmental Regulation 1350-002, Executive Order 13175, and the federal government’s trust responsibility to Tribal Governments.
Tribal leaders are calling for a very different approach—one based on consent, consultation, and conservation, not a rushed decision that sidelines Tribal voices. They are urging an immediate halt to the rescission process, a meaningful extension of the public comment period, and time for real, leadership-level government-to-government consultation so that Tribal governments can fully assess the impacts on their lands, rights, and communities.
The official notice the Trump Administration gave announcing their intent to repeal the Roadless Rule, published in the Federal Register on August 29, 2025, provided only a 21-day public comment period that ended September 19, 2025. This timeline is “wholly inadequate for meaningful Tribal engagement on a decision affecting millions of acres of ancestral territories,” according to the NCAI resolution. Press statements given by the Secretary of Agriculture announcing their plan came without any formal consultation with affected Tribal governments.
Tribal governments are also pressing for a stronger role in shaping what happens next: being treated as cooperating agencies under federal environmental review, gaining tools to petition for co-management of key forest areas, and ensuring that any federal decisions fully examine impacts on treaty rights, cultural resources, subsistence, water, and climate resilience. Together, they are sending a clear message that the future of these forests must be decided with Tribal governments at the table, not after the fact.
Photos by Eddie Sherman
“This attempt to strip protections from 44.7 million acres of ancestral homelands, including treaty-protected resources and sacred sites, without a single meaningful conversation with Tribal governments is a direct violation of our sovereignty and the federal government’s own binding regulations,” said Larry Wright, Jr., Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). “USDA’s own Departmental Regulation specifically prohibits promulgating any regulation with Tribal implications without first consulting with Tribal officials early in the process. The Administration ignored this requirement entirely. NCAI stands united with our member Tribes in demanding an immediate halt to this process, extension of the NOI scoping period to at least 90 days, and initiation of a legitimate 120-day government-to-government consultation period as required by the Forest Service’s own ‘Strengthening Tribal Consultations’ action plan.”
The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands from road construction and timber harvesting. These lands encompass ancestral territories, treaty-protected resources, and sacred sites of NCAI member tribes, including the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, the world’s largest remaining intact temperate rainforest, and the traditional homeland of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. Southeast Alaska Tribal governments, who have served as stewards of the Tongass National Forest since time immemorial, joined in the NCAI resolution. Southeast Alaska Tribes, who have long served as stewards of the Tongass and whose traditional territories encompass the forest’s 9.2 million acres of roadless areas, have been at the forefront of this advocacy for decades.
“Our Tribe, the Organized Village of Kake, has always stewarded and protected the Tongass National Forest with the help of our partners – successfully keeping the roadless rule intact,” said President Joel Jackson, Organized Village of Kake. “Southeast Tribes are proud to again to join the National Congress of American Indians to fight for the protection of the Tongass Forest and other areas protected by the roadless rule. The remaining old growth trees and the critical salmon spawning and rearing habitat in the Tongass are not only important to our way of life, but the entire ecosystem is the largest remaining temperate forest in the world and is also the largest carbon sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases.”
But the threat is not limited to Western states or Alaska. If the Roadless Rule is rescinded, Tribal governments and communities in 39 states and territories, including those in the Great Lakes region, stand to lose critical protections that safeguard culture, treaty rights, and the health of vital ecosystems.
“As Chairman of the St. Croix Chippewa Band of Ojibwe, I was proud to support the National Congress of American Indians in passing a resolution opposing the rollback of the 2001 Roadless Rule,” said Chairman Conrad St. John. “This rule currently protects tens of thousands of acres in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, where we exercise our treaty rights to hunt, fish, and harvest traditional foods and medicines. This foundation of protected forests and watersheds enabled our tribe to make history with the first-ever release of young lake sturgeon from our tribal hatchery—a sacred clan relative now at 1% of its historic numbers—back into our waters after a years-long restoration effort. Rolling back the Roadless Rule directly threatens the clean water that sustains our community, our treaty rights, and our sacred work to restore sturgeon for future generations.”
The NCAI resolution details the extensive harms that would result from rescission: inventoried roadless areas protect treaty-reserved rights to hunt, fish, gather, and conduct traditional and ceremonial practices, rights the resolution emphasizes “are not privileges but inherent retained sovereign rights predating the United States.” Scientific evidence cited in the resolution demonstrates that roads contribute up to 90% of sediment pollution that destroys spawning habitat and degrades water quality essential for salmon and other culturally significant species. Additionally, road construction dramatically increases human-caused wildfire risk, as humans cause nearly 90% of wildfire ignitions, and fire likelihood diminishes with distance from roads.
The resolution further identifies serious environmental justice concerns, noting that Tribal communities would bear disproportionate impacts from rescission while receiving few, if any, of the purported economic benefits, compounding existing disparities in health, economic opportunity, and environmental quality. For Alaska Native Tribes, rescinding the Roadless Rule in the Tongass and elsewhere raises grave concerns under Title VIII of ANILCA, and tribes have repeatedly argued that such actions should be accompanied by a robust Section 810 subsistence analysis, which has been lacking or inadequate in past rulemakings.
“The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands that encompass ancestral territories, treaty protected resources, and sacred sites of ATNI member tribes,” said Leonard Forsman, President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI). “It is essential that the U.S. Government engages in proactive and timely government-to-government consultations with affected Tribes. ATNI calls on the Administration to honor Secretarial Order 3403, uphold its trust responsibilities, and engage with us as the sovereign co-stewards we are.”
The NCAI resolution establishes comprehensive demands for meaningful consultation consistent with Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles, including: direct consultation between Tribal leadership and the Secretary of Agriculture; a minimum 120-day consultation period; regional consultation sessions accessible to all affected Tribes; funding for Tribal participation including travel and technical assistance; written documentation of all consultation outcomes; and designation of requesting Tribes as cooperating agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Significantly, the resolution also calls upon the U.S. Forest Service to establish a formal Tribal petition mechanism that would enable federally recognized Tribes to request specific management or co-management activities in individual Inventoried Roadless Areas within their ancestral lands, ensuring Tribal Governments have equitable standing with states in determining management priorities for areas that directly affect Tribal resources, treaty rights, and cultural landscapes.
The coalition’s position is further supported by the Inter-Tribal Timber Council (ITC), which advocates for sustainable management of Indian forests and has consistently emphasized that successful forest stewardship requires partnership and the integration of Indigenous Knowledge, not the removal of conservation baselines.
“The Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) continues to be concerned about the sweeping proposed forest policy changes as we see transitions from one administration to the next,” said Cody Desautel, President of the Inter-Tribal Timber Council. “This is particularly concerning when tribal participation is being relegated to public comments, despite the Forest Service having unique statutory and regulatory responsibilities to consult with tribes. The ITC believes that the agency’s proposed action should not force tribes to categorically accept or reject restrictions on every IRA nationwide. Instead, there should be a process established for tribes to propose alternative management or co-management directions for specific IRAs of interest within their ancestral homelands, areas of historic or current proximity to tribal lands.”
This unified front of Tribal governments serves as a clear signal to the federal government: the path forward requires consent, consultation, and conservation, not a rushed rollback of vital protections. Tribal governments have demonstrated through millennia of stewardship that the lands now classified as inventoried roadless areas can be sustained for future generations. The federal government must honor its legal obligations and engage in genuine partnership with Tribal governments, who have never ceded their inherent right to participate in decisions affecting their ancestral territories.
About the National Congress of American Indians:
Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of tribal governments and communities, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies. For more information, visit www.ncai.org.
About the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians:
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) represents 57 Northwest tribal governments from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California, Southeast Alaska, and Western Montana. ATNI serves as a unifying voice on issues critical to tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural resources management. For more information, visit www.atnitribes.org.