Proposed Changes to the Travel Management Rule

Public Comment Deadline: September 23, 2026
The Forest Service’s Travel Management Rule establishes the basic system for deciding where cars, trucks, ATVs, dirt bikes and other motorized vehicles may travel on National Forest lands. Under the existing framework, motorized use is generally limited to roads, trails and areas that the Forest Service has specifically designated for that use. That system gives individual National Forests a way to provide motorized access while also protecting streams, wildlife habitat, sensitive areas and opportunities for nonmotorized recreation.

The Forest Service is now beginning a rulemaking that would substantially change that approach. Among other changes, the proposal would establish a national policy favoring increased access and create a presumption that existing roads, trails, airfields, trailheads and other access routes are open to public use unless there is a documented reason to close or restrict them. Existing travel-management maps would initially remain in effect, but the new framework would guide future decisions and revisions.
In simpler terms, KWA is concerned that the proposal could begin shifting the system from “motorized travel occurs where it has been specifically designated” toward “routes are presumed open unless the Forest Service can justify closing them.” Conservation, recreation and even some motorized-user organizations have raised concerns about substantially weakening the existing travel-management framework.

For waterways, the consequences matter. Poorly located or unmanaged vehicle routes can increase erosion and sedimentation, damage stream crossings and riparian areas, fragment wildlife habitat, and create new pathways into previously quieter portions of the forest. The existing rule is intended not simply to regulate recreation, but to provide a process for balancing access with resource protection and the many different ways Americans use their National Forests.
KWA supports appropriate public access to National Forest lands, including responsible motorized recreation. Access and conservation do not have to be opposing goals. Our concern is that the Forest Service should not discard a system that requires thoughtful, place-specific decisions about where motorized vehicles belong and where protecting streams, habitat, public safety or other recreational experiences requires limits.
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What KWA is asking you to do: Ask the Forest Service to retain the core protections of the existing Travel Management Rule, including the designated route system and meaningful consideration of water quality, erosion, wildlife habitat and conflicts among different recreational uses. The agency should improve access where appropriate without making motorized use the default everywhere.
Comments are due September 23, 2026. Comments may be submitted through Regulations.gov under Docket FS-2026-0100. The Forest Service says this comment period will help shape the environmental review and eventual proposed rule, making early public participation particularly important. 
Your Voice Matters
Public comment periods are one of the most direct opportunities Kentuckians have to influence how regulations are written before decisions become final. Comments do not need to be long or technical to be useful. Personal experience such as where you hunt, fish, paddle, hike, obtain drinking water, own land, or have seen the effects of erosion and poorly managed roads, can help agencies understand what these decisions mean on the ground.
For each of these proposals, KWA encourages commenters to explain why the issue matters to them, identify the specific concern they want the agency to address, and clearly state what they want the agency to do.
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