The administration is expected to formally repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule early next year. The rule has generally barred new road construction and most logging on about 44 million acres of national forestland. President Donald Trump has argued that lifting the restrictions would help restore timber jobs in rural communities and improve wildfire prevention.

At Starfire Lumber in Cottage Grove, CEO Sean Smith said the change could eventually make local timber supplies more dependable, including for forest-restoration projects. But he said it would not solve the costs squeezing his business, from diesel to sawmill parts.

Smith said he backs opening some roadless areas to forest-health work because he believes parts of the nearby Willamette National Forest are overgrown and vulnerable to severe fires. He said his support is rooted in concern for the forests where he lives, not simply a desire for more low-cost timber.

The industry’s other pressures are substantial. Jeff Brink, a second-generation logger near Eugene, said recruiting drivers is difficult when early-morning log-truck shifts compete with jobs offering similar pay. High diesel prices are particularly painful for companies already working with thin margins, he said.

Brink’s company has stayed afloat through private-land restoration work and salvage logging after wildfires. But he said the broader industry is far smaller than when his family started its business in 1981, and the infrastructure needed for a major expansion is no longer in place.

Federal timber sales have fallen nearly 90% since the 1990s, amid tighter environmental rules and market changes, including competition from lower-cost Canadian lumber. Across the Northwest, an estimated 400 mills have closed since that decade, eliminating about 35,000 jobs; seven Oregon mills have shut down since 2024. Analysts estimate that ending the Roadless Rule could increase federal timber sales by 5% to 10%—a limited boost against that long decline.

The Forest Service has also struggled to complete thinning and other projects on lands that already have roads. Loggers and forest advocates cite lawsuits, agency delays and a shortage of workers as persistent barriers, meaning new access alone may not translate into a rapid increase in forest work or jobs.

The proposal is also drawing opposition from environmental groups, which have said they intend to sue once the repeal is final. Timothy Ingalsbee, a retired Forest Service firefighter who now leads a national firefighter safety and advocacy group, said additional roads could bring more human-caused fires into forests. He disputes the administration’s claim that expanding road building and logging is necessary for firefighter safety.

The fight echoes the bitter “Timber Wars” of the 1990s, when disputes over old-growth logging roiled Oregon communities. Ingalsbee helped lead a tree-sitting protest against a Forest Service timber sale during that period. He worries the rollback could renew conflict over public lands without addressing the underlying causes of rural economic decline.

The Roadless Rule itself has remained politically vulnerable because Congress never made it law. President Bill Clinton established it in 2001 after a Forest Service review identified lands suited to wilderness protection. Since then, the administrative policy has become a recurring flashpoint, with federal forest management changing sharply from one presidential administration to the next.

Smith said that instability makes it difficult for businesses to plan. Even loggers who favor some forest work in currently protected areas, he said, face uncertainty over whether federal policy will hold long enough to support long-term investments.