The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is extending the public comment period for the proposed rule titled Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation, published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2026 (91 FR 53827). The notice of proposed rulemaking invited public comment on the proposed rule, the associated draft environmental impact statement, and cost benefit analysis, which were published simultaneously. The original comment period is scheduled to close on September 21, 2026. The Department is extending the comment period by 15 days to allow the public additional time to submit comments. The new deadline for comments is October 6, 2026.
Comments close Oct 6, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is initiating an environmental impact statement and rulemaking to revise the Forest Service's travel management regulations, 36 CFR part 212. The proposed action would establish a uniform national policy favoring increased access while simplifying regulatory requirements and preserving local decision-making. The proposed access rule would establish a national policy with a presumption that existing roads, trails, airfields, trailheads, and other access routes and points on National Forest System lands are open to appropriate public use unless closure or restriction is required by applicable law, valid existing rights, or another governing instrument, or supported by specific, documented and justifiable reasons based on science-based resource conditions, public safety, conflicts among uses, or maintenance and administrative capacity. Commonly available public data sets, including aerial imagery, may be used as evidence that a physical route or airfield exists or existed at a time relevant under the definition adopted in the proposed rule, but would not by themselves establish that the feature is part of the forest transportation system, that the Forest Service has jurisdiction or sufficient legal access, or that it is open to a particular public use. The proposed access rule would require annual review of all trails, roads, airfields, trailheads, and other access routes and points that are closed or highly restricted. The proposed access rule would establish processes and conditions for limited off-route motor vehicle use and other motorized equipment for, among other things, downed big-game retrieval, firewood collection and dispersed camping, and for designating areas for over-snow and other motorized recreation. The presumption embodied in the national policy would guide future decisions and would not itself change the legal status of any road, trail, airfield, trailhead, area, or other access route or point. Any change in lawful use resulting from a vehicle- or use-specific exemption would be limited to the scope and conditions expressly provided in the revised regulations. Existing motor vehicle use designations and maps would remain in effect until revised under the amended regulations. The environmental impact statement will evaluate the impacts of the proposed rule revisions and study alternatives for managing public access, including the motorized and other forms of access addressed by the proposed rule, on National Forest System lands in the context of multiple-use resource management. USDA invites written comments on alternatives, effects, and relevant information, studies, or analyses related to the proposal.
Comments close Sep 23, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is proposing to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule), which established broad prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting within inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System lands. The intent of this proposed action is to reduce regulatory burden and return decisionmaking for the management of inventoried roadless areas to the land management planning process at the individual national forest level. Rescission of the national-level prohibitions provides responsible officials with flexibility to better guide management of National Forest System lands and respond to changing local resource conditions. The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976, and the associated land management planning processes and plans are the appropriate and effective mechanisms to guide sustainable, integrated management of the resources within the plan areas in the context of the broader landscape, giving due consideration to the relative values of the various resources in particular areas. The USDA invites public comment on this proposed rule, the associated draft environmental impact statement, and cost benefit analysis, which are being published simultaneously.
Comments close Sep 21, 2026
The United States Department of Agriculture (Department) is proposing to amend regulations governing the Directive System for the United States Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency); the scope of notice and comment requirements for the formulation of standards, criteria, and guidelines applicable to Forest Service programs; and associated agency procedures. These amendments enhance Agency employees' discretion to allow innovation in program implementation to account for the unique ecological conditions of affected landscapes and changing social and economic needs.
Comments close Jul 31, 2026
The United States Department of Agriculture (Department), Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency), is proposing to amend its land use regulations to exempt administrative site leases from the regulations for special uses. The purpose of this deregulatory action is to better align Forest Service leasing activities with private real estate market practices.
Comments close Jun 5, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Agency), is proposing to revise its regulations governing occupancy and use of the surface of National Forest System lands in connection with prospecting, exploration, development, mining, processing, and reclamation and reasonably incident uses authorized by U.S. mining laws and the Organic Administration Act of 1897. Regulatory revisions are needed to improve the efficiency and transparency of Forest Service regulation of locatable mineral operations conducted on National Forest System lands under the mining laws, and to minimize, to the fullest extent practicable, adverse impacts on surface resources. In addition, the revisions will support Federal policy to secure reliable and sustainable supplies of strategic and critical minerals in the United States.
Comments close Apr 21, 2026
This notice extends the public comment period for the review of the Federal Subsistence Management Program (Program) that was announced in the Federal Register on December 15, 2025. This extension provides additional time for stakeholders to submit comments.
Comments close Mar 30, 2026
This proposed rule would update regulations for fish and shellfish seasons, harvest limits, methods, and means related to taking of fish and shellfish for subsistence uses during the 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board (the Board) is on a schedule of completing the process of revising subsistence take of fish and shellfish regulations in odd-numbered years and subsistence take of wildlife regulations in even-numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place during the preceding year. The Board also addresses customary and traditional use determinations during the applicable cycle and rural determinations every other fish and shellfish regulatory cycle. When final, the resulting rulemaking will replace the existing subsistence fish and shellfish taking regulations. This proposed rule could also amend the general regulations on subsistence taking of fish and wildlife. During this rulemaking cycle, the Board will accept proposals for rural determinations that will be decided by the Board during the subsequent fish and shellfish regulatory cycle.
Comments close Apr 3, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service is proposing to amend its Project-Level Predecisional Administrative Review Process regulations. These regulations establish the process by which the public may file objections seeking administrative review for projects and activities implementing land management plans on national forests. The Forest Service is amending these regulations to consolidate and streamline processes, increase efficiency, and better align with the Agency's statutory obligations and recent rescissions and revisions to National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Comments close Mar 9, 2026
The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency) is issuing a final rule revising the definition of a ski area in its special use regulations. The revised definition aligns more closely with the Forest Service's statutory authority for ski area administration and reduces burden on the agency and special use permit holders.
The United States Department of Agriculture (Department), Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency), is issuing this final rule to update its special uses regulations on filming and still photography to be consistent with the new requirements in the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act (EXPLORE Act or Act). The technical revisions include adding a statutory reference to the EXPLORE Act and updating terminology and definitions to be consistent with the Act.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is finalizing revisions to its regulations governing Federal oil and gas resources within the National Forest System (NFS). The Department is making these revisions to update and modernize its existing regulations. In addition, conforming technical amendments to other parts of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) affected by this rule are also being updated. The regulations revise the process for analyzing whether the USDA, Forest Service will consent to making certain lands available for oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The regulations also clarify requirements for conducting lease operations and revise procedures concerning monitoring operator compliance with all applicable terms and conditions of leasing. The revised regulations will apply to operations on both existing and future leases.
Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) requires a subsistence priority for rural Alaska residents on federal public lands in Alaska, currently administered jointly by Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretaries). The Office of the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska Affairs and the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture are conducting a targeted review of the Federal Subsistence Management Program (Program) with joint recommendations for action to ensure the Program effectively and efficiently meets the needs of Alaska residents and the Secretaries' obligations under ANILCA. The focus of this review is on recent regulatory and organizational changes to the Program, along with discrete areas of interest. The scope of this review is intentionally targeted to build upon and evaluate the most recent Program review and changes with the benefit of the experience gained through implementation of those changes to date. A subsequent process is anticipated for any regulatory changes to the Program based on this review.
This final rule revises regulations for fish and shellfish seasons, harvest limits, methods, and means related to taking of fish and shellfish for subsistence uses during the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board (hereafter referred to as "the Board") is on a schedule of completing the process of revising subsistence taking of fish and shellfish regulations in odd- numbered years and subsistence taking of wildlife regulations in even- numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place during the preceding year. The Board also addresses customary and traditional use determinations during the applicable cycle. When final, the resulting rulemaking amends the existing subsistence fish and shellfish taking regulations. This final rule also revises the nonrural determinations, updates the regulations on subsistence taking of wildlife resulting from final Board action on a wildlife proposal to conduct an ANILCA section 804 user prioritization for hunting the Nelchina caribou herd, change Nelchina caribou herd subsistence hunts to "may be announced," and delegate authority to manage these hunts. Lastly, this rule corrects an error from a recent final rule.
This rule transfers the Federal Subsistence Management Program regulations for the Department of the Interior from 50 CFR part 100 to 43 CFR part 51 to align with the transfer of the Office of Subsistence Management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget. This rule also revises the program's regulations for both the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to reflect the recent organizational changes and make administrative corrections.
The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency) is making purely technical, clarifying revisions to its existing regulations relating to the conversion of ski area authorizations on National Forest System lands (NFS) pursuant to the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act of 1986. The revisions remove the requirements for conversion of ski area authorizations because all ski area authorizations on NFS have been converted or issued under the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act, rendering this provision obsolete.
The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency) is making purely technical, clarifying revisions to its existing regulations governing the establishment and maintenance of grazing advisory boards on National Forest System lands (NFS). The revisions remove the provisions for grazing advisory boards to ensure consistency of the existing regulations with governing statutes.
This proposed rule would establish regulations for hunting and trapping seasons, harvest limits, and methods and means related to taking of wildlife for subsistence uses during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board (hereafter referred to as "the Board") is on a schedule of completing the process of revising subsistence taking of wildlife regulations in even-numbered years and subsistence taking of fish and shellfish regulations in odd- numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place during the preceding year. The Board also addresses customary and traditional use determinations during the applicable cycle. When final, the resulting rulemaking will replace the existing subsistence wildlife taking regulations. This proposed rule could also amend the general regulations on subsistence taking of fish and wildlife.
