Governor Abigail Spanberger has written to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins opposing a Trump administration proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The rule currently protects nearly 400,000 acres of Virginia's national forests and approximately 45 million acres nationwide by restricting new road construction and related impacts in designated forest areas.
In her letter, Spanberger said rescinding the rule would expose forests to development and fragmentation, harming wildlife migration corridors and threatening drinking water supplies. She also cited the rule's value to the state's outdoor recreation economy.
Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation has identified 103 Natural Heritage Conservation Sites within the protected forest areas, with 32 considered essential to species survival and 57 having high to outstanding biodiversity significance, according to the governor's letter.
Several Virginia members of Congress have also opposed the rescission proposal, including Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Representatives Bobby Scott, Don Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Eugene Vindman, Suhas Subramanyam, and James Walkinshaw.