The Roadless Rule fight isn't Colorado's. Here's why — and where it actually lands.

If you've seen the headlines about the Roadless Rule being repealed and wondered what it means for where you ride in Colorado — the short answer is: it doesn't.

Colorado is one of two states this doesn't touch

The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule bars road construction and logging on roughly 58 million acres of national forest nationwide. On August 20 the Forest Service published a proposal to rescind it. Nearly 45 million acres across 38 states could be affected.

Colorado isn't one of them. Neither is Idaho. Both states wrote their own roadless rules years ago, and the Federal Register notice says plainly that those rules "will not be affected by this proposed rule and will remain in effect."

Colorado's rule took effect in July 2012 after negotiations that started under Governor Bill Owens. It covers 4.2 million acres of Forest Service land in the state, and about 1.2 million of those carry "upper tier" status — narrower exceptions for roads and tree cutting than the 2001 federal rule ever had. That's still the law here. The Pike-San Isabel, the White River, the GMUG — all of it stays under the Colorado rule regardless of what happens in Washington.

So if you ride here, nothing changes under your tires.

Where it does change: everywhere you haul to

Moab. The San Rafael Swell. Wyoming. New Mexico. Arizona. Every one of those is in a state without its own roadless rule, and every one is affected by the proposal.

What the rescission actually does: it removes the national prohibition and hands decisions about roads and timber in those areas to each individual forest's land management plan. It doesn't build a road by itself, and it doesn't open anything overnight. USDA's stated reason is wildfire management — the press release is literally titled around wildfire risk. Off-road groups including the BlueRibbon Coalition have opposed the 2001 rule since it was written and support the rescission. Conservation groups argue it opens intact backcountry to logging and road-building that local forest plans won't resist.

If you have an opinion either way, the comment period closes September 21, 2026. A final rule is expected late this year.

The Colorado money

Manufacturer grant programs keep putting real dollars into trails. Two rounds this summer:

Yamaha's Outdoor Access Initiative awarded more than $225,000 in its second-quarter round — and one of the seven recipients is in Colorado. San Luis Valley Great Outdoors, working with Peak Motor Sports in Alamosa, is building a new connector trail and improving wayfinding signage in the San Luis Valley. That's a Colorado trail getting built with Yamaha money, right now. Yamaha's first-quarter round put another $237,000 into thirteen organizations across ten states.

Polaris and the Foundation for America's Public Lands launched a grant program worth over $700,000 — a $350,000 Polaris donation matched by the Foundation — for OHV access, safety and signage on BLM land. The first seven projects went to Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Montana. None in Colorado this round. If you ride Moab, four of those projects are in Utah.

Both programs fund organizations doing trail work. If your club hasn't looked at them, that's worth forwarding.

San Rafael Swell — still being reassessed

The BLM is reassessing OHV route closures in the San Rafael Swell and San Rafael Desert — about 226 miles in the Swell and 20 in the Desert. The public comment window on that closed June 8, but the reassessment itself is ongoing. If you ride the Swell, watch for the decision.

What to actually do

• Riding Colorado this fall? Nothing changed. Download the MVUM for the forest you're headed to — it's the legal document, and it's free from each forest's website.
• Hauling out of state? The Roadless Rule change is your issue. Comment by September 21 if you care either way.
• In a club? Send them the Yamaha OAI and Polaris/FAPL programs. The Alamosa trail is proof the money's real.

Our owner runs Adrenaline Off-Road Park at PPIR, and we ride the same public trails you do. When the rules change — or don't — we'll say so here.

Sources: Colorado Sun · USFS — Colorado Roadless Rule · USDA, 18 Aug 2026 · Polaris / FAPL · Yamaha OAI Q2 2026 · BLM — San Rafael Swell