The Trump administration on Wednesday took formal steps to rescind a decades-old rule that protects 58.5 million acres of wild areas in national forests.

United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the agency will publish a notice of intent in the Federal Register on Friday to roll back the so-called Roadless Rule , initiating a 21-day public comment period and moving the process closer to reality.

“We are one step closer to common-sense management of our national forest lands,” Rollins said in a statement. (The USDA oversees the U.S. Forest Service.)

The rule was enacted by the Clinton administration in 2001 after years of work and record-breaking input from the public. It established lasting protection for specified wilderness areas within national for

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