Rep. Vasquez Urges Administration to Halt Rule Change Expanding Vehicle Access and Increasing Risks on Public Lands

October 6, 2026 Press Release The proposed revision of the 2005 Travel Management Rule poses serious risk to conservation and safety on public lands WASHINGTON, D.C. – On October 6, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary Michael Boren and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tom Schultz strongly opposing the Administration’s proposed rule expanding vehicle access to public lands and trails that are already facing maintenance backlogs. Vasquez was joined by 28 of his House and Senate colleagues in his call to keep the 2005 Travel Management Rule in place. “New Mexicans deserve public lands that are safe and well-managed. Ending the long-established Travel Management Rule would put public safety at risk and open the door to damage that will take generations to undo,” said Vasquez. “Hikers, hunters, and ranchers alike shouldn’t have to worry about more folks driving through the spaces they use for recreation and grazing. Instead of opening more of our public lands to vehicle access in places where access already exists, the Forest Service should focus on maintaining existing trails and roads. This broad reversal is unnecessary." The USFS and the Bureau of Land Management have separate but similar rules requiring our public land agencies to provide clear, consistent guidance for how public lands are used, including where motorized vehicles, including cars and ATVs, can travel. For those who enjoy our public lands, whether on foot or on wheels, these rules help keep trails open, accessible, and responsibly managed. They also require public input before designating routes, produce Motor Vehicle Use Maps that show visitors where they can go, give rangers clear standards to enforce, and allow exceptions for emergency, military, and law enforcement vehicles. Changing the 2005 rule, as proposed by USDA, could endanger public safety, reduce quality access to our public lands, and degrade the quality of trails, lands and waters that support our nation’s wildlife and outdoor recreation economy. The letter demands that any revisions to the 2005 Travel Management Rule preserve the following core principles: Maintain the current default of keeping routes and areas closed to motorized use unless expressly designated as open. Carry forward criteria that guide local land management decisions and protect critical public land values, including soil, watersheds, vegetation, and wildlife habitat, as well as reduce conflicts between public land uses such as camping, hiking, hunting, and grazing. Travel management decisions should continue to be informed by robust public engagement and local input. The agencies must retain the ability to protect fish and wildlife habitat, riparian areas, water quality, and cultural resources. The agencies should continue to clearly identify where motorized travel is permitted. The agencies should consider the long-term cost of properly maintaining, staffing, and administering their transportation system before adding new routes or expanding access. “This is yet another egregious attack in the systematic dismantling of public lands management of our national forests,” said Paul Sanford, director for equitable access policy advocacy at The Wilderness Society. “Travel management provides the basic guardrails that let hikers, hunters, anglers, and riders share the same forest without chaos; removing those guardrails threatens the freedom of all public lands users to safely enjoy our national forests the way they choose. Paired with the proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule, this destructive agenda sells out future generations’ enjoyment of our forests in order to hand them over for corporate profits.” “We’re grateful to see Congressional Leaders pushing back on federal agency proposals to gut travel management regulations and prioritize off-road vehicles at the expense of wildlife, cultural sites, desert waterways and other recreationists, proposals that will make visiting Utah’s canyon country worse for everyone,” said Laura Peterson, Senior Attorney at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “The Trump Administration’s vision for public lands is not about balance or reasonable access, it is about blanketing landscapes with off-road vehicle routes, transforming quiet, wild places into motorized playgrounds.” "We stand with Rep. Vasquez and his urgent request to keep the Travel Management Rule intact,” said Taylor Rush, government relations representative at Defenders of Wildlife. "For more than two decades, this rule has protected our cherished wildlife, outdoor recreationists, clean water supply and local communities from the harmful impacts of unmanaged motorized vehicle use. Weakening the framework used to reduce habitat damage and social conflict would result in dangerous degradation of our wild places and wildlife." ### Issues : Environment & Conservation