Question 1

What does S2042 do?

Accepted Answer

The Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025 seeks to codify and permanently entrench in statute the protections established by the 2001 Roadless Rule, which has governed inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System for over two decades. The bill's central objective is to provide lasting, congressionally mandated protection for these areas against road construction, road reconstruction, and commercial logging, while preserving their capacity for multiple uses including recreation, hunting, fishing, and spiritual practices. By elevating the Roadless Rule from a regulatory instrument to a statutory mandate, the bill insulates these protections from future administrative revision or repeal, addressing the vulnerability that has led to state-specific modifications for Idaho in 2008 and Colorado in 2012 and 2016. The bill frames its purpose around the compelling ecological, social, economic, and cultural values that roadless areas provide to tens of millions of Americans, including clean water supply, biodiversity conservation, wildfire risk reduction, and irreplaceable recreational and spiritual opportunities.

Question 2

Who sponsored S2042?

Accepted Answer

Maria Cantwell, Ruben Gallego, Alex Padilla, Cory Booker, Tina Smith, Ron Wyden, Richard Durbin, Bernard Sanders, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley, Patty Murray, Mazie Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, Elizabeth Warren, John Hickenlooper, Edward Markey, Mark Warner, Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, Angela Alsobrooks, Ben Lujan, Sheldon Whitehouse, Tammy Duckworth, Mark Kelly, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Jack Reed, Andy Kim, Christopher Murphy

Question 3

What is the status of S2042?

Accepted Answer

Introduced as of June 11, 2025.

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