Removing Unnecessary and Counterproductive Restrictions on Access to Federal Lands
The order rescinds two decades-old executive orders — EO 11644 (1972) and EO 11989 (1977) — that required agencies to apply specific environmental and social criteria when designating areas on federal lands open to off-road vehicle use, and directs affected agencies to initiate rulemakings to replace the existing implementing regulations.
It shifts off-road vehicle management from criteria-based designation rules toward a framework grounded solely in existing statutory land-management authorities, with the stated aim of expanding public access, recreation, and energy and timber production on federal lands.
What this order does
What it orders
The order rescinds Executive Order 11644 (1972) and Executive Order 11989 (1977), which had required federal agencies to use specific designation criteria — including minimizing wildlife harassment, reducing recreational conflicts, and avoiding harm to natural and scenic values — when deciding where off-road vehicles may be used on public lands. The order declares those criteria vague, difficult to operationalize, and not required by statute.
In place of the old framework, the order directs the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and heads of other relevant agencies to initiate rulemakings to rescind or revise the regulations previously adopted to implement the two rescinded orders. The order does not itself rewrite any regulation or immediately change any specific land designation; those changes depend on the completion of agency rulemakings.
Who it affects
Federal land management agencies, including the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture, which must now initiate rulemaking. Off-road vehicle users, hikers, hunters, energy producers, timber companies, and utility operators who access federal lands are all affected by the eventual regulatory changes.
Why it matters
Once agencies complete rulemaking, the rules governing where off-road vehicles — and by extension energy, timber, and utility operations — are permitted on federal lands could change substantially, potentially opening areas previously restricted under the old designation criteria to broader use.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The order's immediate effect is to void the two prior EOs, but existing agency regulations implementing those EOs remain legally in force until each agency completes its own rulemaking to rescind or revise them. Agencies must initiate — but not complete — those rulemakings under no specified deadline. The order imposes no enforcement mechanism for the rulemaking timeline and includes a standard savings clause preserving existing agency authority and making implementation subject to appropriations availability.
Actions and deadlines
- Initiate rulemakings to rescind or revise regulations implementing EO 11644 and EO 11989