Roadless Rivers

For 25 years, a rule at the United States Forest Service has been in place that does not allow new roads to be built. These roadless areas inside our National Forests total about 59 million acres, and they have remained without roads, without human vehicle traffic, without heavy equipment working to extract natural resources. Inherently, this has protected rivers and their headwaters, their entire basins, their narrow riparian canyons, and all the critters in the water and on the land. In August of this year, 2026, the current US Presidential administration announced in the Federal Register their intent to rescind this rule. This episode hosts Chris Wood who was working directly on the Roadless Rule when it was initiated in 1999 and completed in 2001. Today Chris Wood is the President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. He talks with the River Radius about why the rule was created, the culture of trees and forests and roads that supported this rule 25 years ago, and also how we can all engage with public comments until September 21 on this topic. GUESTS Chris Wood, CEO & President at Trout Unlimited Trout Unlimited RESOURCES Original Roadless Rule Federal Register August 20, 2026 Roadless Announcement Comment at United States Forest Service Comment at TU Comment at American Whitewater Comment at American Rivers Comment at Greater Yellowstone Coaltion Chris Wood from Trout Unlimited in the Wired to Hunt Podcast, with great and longer history of timber sales in US Apple Podcasts Spotify THE RIVER RADIUS Website Runoff signup (episode newsletter) Instagram Facebook Apple Podcast Spotify Link Tree