Forest Service to Revise Travel Rule Governing ATV and E-Bike Access

The U.S. Forest Service announced on August 21 that it intends to begin revising the rules that govern where motorized vehicles can travel across National Forest lands. The agency said it will publish a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for amending the existing Travel Management Rule, known formally as 36 CFR 212.

For riders who use these lands, the change could reshape where and how you access trails, roads, and trailheads. The Travel Management Rule is the framework that decides which routes are open to ATVs, UTVs, side-by-sides, e-bikes, and other mobility devices on Forest Service ground. The proposed revision is aimed at making those regulatory requirements simpler to read and understand, and at speeding up decisions made at the local level.

The stated goal is to increase access for motorized vehicles and to hand more of the decision-making to local leaders who manage the specific forests and grasslands in their areas. That matters for anyone who has run into confusing or conflicting rules about which routes are legal to ride.

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen A. Vaden framed the effort as a way to open up recreation. "Public lands are for public use, yet for too long, Forest Service regulations have stood in the way of public recreation access," Vaden said. "With this step, USDA begins the process of ensuring the public can access their forests and USDA can better manage the lands with which the public has entrusted it."

USDA Natural Resources and Environment Under Secretary Mike Boren pointed to the current system as a barrier. "The existing travel management scheme creates unnecessary barriers for Americans to enjoy the national forests and grasslands that they own," Boren said. "By simplifying regulations and aligning them with the mission of the United States Forest Service, we are providing the necessary tools for local leaders to ensure that roads, trails, airfields, trailheads and other access routes are open and appropriate for public use."

The announcement calls out e-bikes and other battery-powered machines specifically. The category of "motorized vehicles" now includes plenty of equipment that runs on batteries rather than gas, and that shift is part of what the agency says it is trying to account for in updated rules.

This is the start of a process, not a finished rule. Preparing an environmental impact statement takes time, and the details of what actually changes on any given forest will come later. For now, the practical takeaway for riders is that the Forest Service is signaling more open access and simpler rules ahead. Until the revision is finalized, the current Travel Management Rule and existing route designations still apply, so check the maps and regulations for the specific forest you plan to ride before you head out.