GOLCONDA —  In a remote corner of the Shawnee National Forest, along the Ohio River’s northeastern banks, 73-year-old Mark Donham peered up at the handful of remaining trees in the newly sun-filled forest canopy. Two enormous piles of freshly cut timber — a mix of hardwood species but mostly pine — lay on the ground below.

The site was frustratingly familiar to the longtime Shawnee conservation activist, who recalled that only a week earlier he had seen the massive feller buncher rumbling past his home of 46 years, en route to this latest Shawnee logging project.

The logging project highlights the newest threat emerging to the future of the forest, Donham said. This time, a pending Trump administration proposal would roll back the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prevents road construction and timber harvesting on millions of acres of federal forest land, including approximately 11,000 acres in the Shawnee.

The proposal to rescind the wildly popular rule also triggered a harsh rebuke from environmental activists and nearly 170 members of Congress, the latter of whom signed a letter last week urging the Trump administration to abandon the plan.

The Shawnee — the crown jewel of Illinois’ wild lands and the lynchpin of the southern Illinois tourism industry — contains six inventoried roadless areas tucked among the forest’s sandstone bluffs, canyons and wetlands.

The largest swaths of land that could become vulnerable to logging and drilling if rules are relaxed are 6,200 acres in Burke Branch, which lies roughly a half mile from the new logging project and straddles Pope and Massac counties. The second largest are 3,800 acres at Ripple Hollow near the communities of McClure and Jonesboro in the far western portion of the Shawnee. Overall, the inventoried roadless area still comprises less than 4% of the forest’s vast 280,000 acres, according to the Forest Service.

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“Here we are in the most serious climate crisis, where forests can play such an important role, and they are still looking at the forest as a crop,” said Donham, whose own 13-acre property backs up to Burke Branch.

Other local advocates also condemned the proposal. Barb McKasson, chair of the Shawnee National Forest Committee for the Illinois Chapter Sierra Club, denounced the “brazen actions of the Trump administration to sell off pieces of our nation’s national heritage” in a statement.

‘They are doing it for the money’

United States Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz is billing the proposal as the “best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests,” according to an Aug. 18 statement. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials also celebrated the proposed change as a way to return forest management to local forestry officials and tribal governments.

Critics, however, argue rescinding the rule instead could result in a massive land grab that would benefit private logging and drilling industries — including the timber companies that Schultz previously worked for as a lobbyist and executive before his appointment as the nation’s chief Forest Service official.

“The only reason they call it ecological restoration is because they can’t admit they are doing it for the money,” Donham said.

The rollback proposal treads on the heels of a two-year successful legal fight for southern Illinois conservation advocates. Earlier this month, a federal judge halted a commercial logging project in the Shawnee’s Bell Smith Springs after finding it violated the Endangered Species Act. Bell Smith Springs is home to the federally protected Indiana bat.

The so-called Roadless Rule was hailed as a bipartisan victory when it was created in 2001 following 600 public meetings and more than 1.6 million public comments overwhelmingly in favor of the rule. Proponents declared the rule would aid in preventing the spread of invasive species, safeguard clean drinking water and preserve wildlife habitats.

Although most of the federal lands protected by the Roadless Rule are in western states, the Shawnee’s smaller acreage amounts are just as crucial to protect, said Amanda Pankau, a director for Prairie Rivers Network, an Illinois affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.

“In fact, the relatively small size of these areas and the highly fragmented nature of the forest within the Shawnee means these protections are especially vital,” Pankau said, noting that Illinois has shrunk to having only 14% of forest land.

A spokesperson for the Forest Service noted that Burke Branch already includes existing roads that predate the rule. Ripple Hollow is a steep area with few existing roads and is not part of a current management plan that involves timber harvest, the spokesperson said in an email.

Trump’s focus on timber

While promoted as a tool to improve forest health and mitigate wildfires, additional proposal documents from the Federal Register state the rollback also would advance a 2025 executive Order in which President Trump ordered the USDA and Department of Interior to increase timber production on federal lands.

“These onerous Federal policies have forced our Nation to rely upon imported lumber, thus exporting jobs and prosperity and compromising our self-reliance,” read Trump’s 2025 executive order. “It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security.”

The proposal also complies with Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order, a direct call to increase energy production on federal lands and to help the U.S. become the leading producer and processor of rare earth minerals.

Parts of the Shawnee host large concentrations of rare earth minerals, according to the Illinois State Geological Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. However the largest concentration of rare earth minerals is found at Hicks Dome, an area of the forest which is not affected by the proposed rule change.

Ripple Hollow, the second-largest section of inventoried roadless land, also contains a significant amount of silica, according to the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in the Midwest. Silica is a mineral found in quartz and sand and used to manufacture items ranging from construction material to automotive glass to cell phone microchips.

The policy center has co-signed a letter with 21 other conservation groups urging time for additional public hearings regarding the rule change.

Environmental watchdog groups have further emphasized that the rollback proposal fails to address the Forestry Department’s previous findings that lack of roads have not halted fire prevention measures and that roadless areas burn at similar rates as roaded sections of wilderness. The study, published by the USDA in 2020, suggested the neutrality of roads in terms of wildfire ignition may be due to increased human activity near roads, which would offset better access for firefighters.

The administration maintains the roadless areas are not receiving adequate fire mitigation treatments because they are difficult to access.

Nearly 85% of U.S. wildfires are caused by human activity, according to the National Park Service. Road access is a large precursor to increased human activity, opponents of the proposed change argue. Roads also facilitate the spread of invasive plant species, according to previous research cited in 2020 on the USDA website.

‘Clear and measurable benefits’

The nearly 170 members of Congress in their statement opposing the measure urged the administration to abandon the proposal.

“The enduring support for the Roadless Rule is rooted in its clear and measurable benefits. Over the past 25 years, the rule has helped protect watersheds, biodiversity, and ecosystem integrity by limiting road construction and large-scale logging in undeveloped areas,” the letter said.

The letter was signed by eight of the 19-member Illinois congressional delegation. Signers were both Illinois’ U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, both Democrats; as well as U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg; Bill Foster, D-Naperville; Mike Quigley, D-Chicago; Danny Davis, D-Chicago; and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Chicago.

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, whose southern Illinois district includes all of the Shawnee National Forest, did not sign the letter. Bost did not return a cell phone call seeking comment Friday and did not immediately return a call to his Murphysboro office Monday.

Opponents also are criticizing the Trump administration for the short comment period and are lobbying to extend the deadline an additional 90 days. The current comment period was originally scheduled to end Sept. 21, but the USDA announced Friday they were extending the deadline to Oct. 6. The USDA will issue a formal decision about the proposal following analysis of public comment feedback before issuing a decision to proceed with the rule change or withdraw the proposal, according to the Federal Register.

To submit a public comment on the proposal to end the Roadless Area Conservation Rule go to https://www.regulations.gov/document/FS-2025-0001-223869.

Kate McCann is a freelance reporter for Capitol News Illinois, focused on telling stories in Southern Illinois about the Shawnee National Forest and the environment. She can be reached at kmccann618@gmail.com.