Two federal comment periods are open right now that will shape where you can drive on National Forest land. One closes September 23, 2026. The other closes October 6, 2026. Most of the coverage you will find focuses on the second one, and some of it still lists the old deadline.
The two deadlines
Travel Management Rule: comments close September 23, 2026. Docket FS-2026-0100.
Roadless Rule rescission: comments close October 6, 2026, extended from September 21. Docket FS-2025-0001.
The Roadless Rule is on the table
On August 18, 2026, USDA announced a proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. For twenty-five years that rule has restricted road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvest inside inventoried roadless areas, which USDA puts at more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System.
The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on August 20 with a comment deadline of September 21. On September 11, USDA published a notice extending that period by 15 days, to October 6, 2026.
What rescinding it actually does
It is worth being precise here, because this issue draws heat from both directions.
Rescinding the Roadless Rule does not open 44 million acres to wheeling. It removes a single national prohibition and returns roadless area decisions to forest-level land management planning. In USDA's words, those decisions would be informed by states, tribes, and communities, within the same planning framework that already guides each forest.
The agency frames the change around wildfire response and management access. Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden called it commonsense policy, saying "the first step to managing forests is to have access to them."
Critics see it as road building by another name. Both readings are possible because the rescission by itself does not build or open anything on the ground. Your local forest plan does.
The one closing sooner: Travel Management
Running alongside the Roadless Rule is a separate effort to revise the Forest Service Travel Management Rule, 36 CFR Part 212. That rule governs how the agency designates routes for motor vehicle use across a system the Forest Service describes as more than 380,000 miles of road and 165,000 miles of trail.
This one is at an earlier stage. The Forest Service published a notice of intent on August 24, 2026, starting a 30-day scoping period that closes September 23. The notice describes the direction the agency wants to take, including treating existing roads and trails as open to appropriate use unless specifically closed, and replacing the rule's "minimization criteria," the standard that has long shaped how districts decide which routes to designate.
For most people who drive forest roads, this is the bigger story. The Roadless Rule is about whether new roads can be built in specific areas. Travel Management is about whether the routes you already drive stay open, stay legal, and stay on the motor vehicle use map. If you have ever watched a spur you used for years disappear from the map, this is the rule behind that decision. We covered how that happens on the ground in what closes a trail.
What we would ask you to consider
We sell decals. We are not a policy shop, and we are not going to tell you which way to comment.
What we will say is this: the comment record is one of the few places where the off-road community's presence is actually counted. Every comment is posted to the public docket. When wheelers don't show up, the record reads as if we didn't care.
If you comment, be specific. A comment that names a forest, names a route, and explains how you use it carries more weight than a form letter. Say whether you hunt, overland, wheel on weekends, or all three. Say what access means for the town where you buy fuel and food.
How to comment
Travel Management (closes September 23): go to regulations.gov, docket FS-2026-0100 and select Comment.
Roadless Rule (closes October 6): go to regulations.gov, docket FS-2025-0001 and comment on the proposed rule.
Not sure which forest land near you is open to vehicles in the first place? Our guide to where overlanding is legal walks through motor vehicle use maps and how to read them.
Comment, then go work on a trail
A comment tells the Forest Service a route matters. A work day on that route shows it. Land managers notice which trails have a crew behind them, and a club with a record of cleanups and erosion repair has a stronger voice when designation decisions come up.
That is why we run the Trail Stewardship Micro-Grant. Four times a year, we award $250 to a volunteer trail project in the United States: trail cleanups, erosion repair, trailhead maintenance, litter hauls. Winning crews also get vinyl decals for their volunteers and a write-up naming their group.
You do not need to be a registered nonprofit. Jeep clubs, off-road and overlanding groups, UTV clubs, scout troops, and friends-of-the-park groups can all apply. There is no form and no fee, just an email describing the project. The first grant will be awarded in October 2026 from applications received by September 30, 2026, which falls right between the two comment deadlines above.
Whatever you think should happen to those acres and routes, the worst outcome is that the decisions get made without us in the room.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Roadless Rule comment deadline?
October 6, 2026. The original deadline was September 21, 2026, and USDA extended it by 15 days in a Federal Register notice published September 11, 2026. Comments go to docket FS-2025-0001 on regulations.gov.
When is the Travel Management Rule comment deadline?
September 23, 2026. The Forest Service published a notice of intent on August 24, 2026, opening a 30-day comment period. Comments go to docket FS-2026-0100 on regulations.gov.
Does rescinding the Roadless Rule open trails to off-road vehicles?
Not directly. Rescission removes the national restriction on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest in inventoried roadless areas and returns those decisions to individual forest land management plans. Whether any route opens is still decided forest by forest.
What is the difference between the Roadless Rule and the Travel Management Rule?
The Roadless Rule limits building new roads in inventoried roadless areas. The Travel Management Rule governs how the Forest Service designates existing roads and trails for motor vehicle use, which determines what appears on motor vehicle use maps.
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