I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1555 
To stop implementation and enforcement of the Forest Service travel manage-
ment rule and require the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management to incorporate the needs, uses, and input of affected com-
munities, and to obtain their consent, before taking any travel manage-
ment action affecting access to National Forest System lands derived 
from the public domain or public lands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2015 
Mr. WALDEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To stop implementation and enforcement of the Forest Serv-
ice travel management rule and require the Forest Serv-
ice and the Bureau of Land Management to incorporate 
the needs, uses, and input of affected communities, and 
to obtain their consent, before taking any travel manage-
ment action affecting access to National Forest System 
lands derived from the public domain or public lands, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forest Access in Rural 
Communities Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPLEMENTATION OR ENFORCE-
MENT OF TRAVEL MANAGEMENT RULE. 
Effective upon the enactment of this Act, in all units 
of the National Forest System derived from the public do-
main, the Secretary of Agriculture shall cease all imple-
mentation and enforcement of the travel management rule 
under subparts A, B, and C of part 212 of title 36, Code 
of Federal Regulations, and subparts A and B of part 261 
of such title. 
SEC. 3. CONDITIONS ON FOREST SERVICE AND BUREAU OF 
LAND MANAGEMENT ACCESS TRAVEL MAN-
AGEMENT ACTIONS FOR NATIONAL FOREST 
SYSTEM LANDS DERIVED FROM THE PUBLIC 
DOMAIN AND PUBLIC LANDS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ACCESS TRAVEL MANAGEMENT ACTION.— 
The term ‘‘access travel management action’’ means 
any action by the Secretary regarding National For-
est System lands or public lands that— 
(A) will, or can reasonably be expected to, 
alter public access to National Forest System 
lands or public lands, including any change in 
access to mining claims or access using motor-
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ized vehicles or nonmotorized means, resulting 
from— 
(i) decommissioning, in whole or in 
part, of a road, trail, or combination road 
and trail system; 
(ii) a change in the status of a road 
as open or closed; or 
(iii) a change in road densities; and 
(B) requires the preparation of an environ-
mental impact statement or environmental as-
sessment under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq.). 
(2) AFFECTED
COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘af-
fected community’’ means— 
(A) a political subdivision whose bound-
aries contain National Forest System lands or 
public lands affected by an access travel man-
agement action; or 
(B) a political subdivision adjacent to a po-
litical subdivision described in subparagraph 
(A). 
(3) POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.—The term ‘‘polit-
ical subdivision’’ means any county, municipality, 
city, town, or township created pursuant to State 
law. 
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