Study says roads bring more fires to forests; USDA wants more roads to fight fires

The Trump administration is moving forward with rescinding a rule that limits roadbuilding and timber harvests on millions of acres of national forests, citing wildfire prevention as justification. A new study contradicts this rationale, suggesting roads actually bring more fires to forests, undermining the administration's stated rationale for the rescission. The USDA is preparing to release a draft environmental impact statement for the rollback as critics argue the move is primarily a timber industry subsidy. Annual wildfire acreage on federal lands has roughly doubled since the late 1980s, burning about 8 million acres per year between 2017 and 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office.