Veneman said the new rule would end costly litigation and give a greater voice to states, which she said were better able to determine forest needs.

The proposal marks a complete reversal of a 2001 rule developed under former President Bill Clinton, Democrats and environmentalists said. The Clinton rule restricted road construction, logging and oil mining in 58.5 million acres of federal forest deemed worthy of special protections to save endangered species or local habitats from irreversible damage.

The land represents about 31 percent of all federal forest areas.

"This could be potentially devastating for some of the last wild forests across the West," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

"What they're doing is gutting the (Clinton) rule," she said.

The proposal goes beyond the U.S. Forest Service's announcement in June 2003 that it would largely uphold the Clinton policy but let governors seek exemptions from the ban on roads. Under the new proposal, the restrictions would not apply unless a governor petitioned the federal government to halt road-construction projects.

The administration said that for the next 18 months, any new road construction projects that would have been in protected roadless areas would need to be approved by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth. Once the Bush rule is finalized, states will have 18 months to submit petitions to the federal government regarding forest land they believe should be protected.

The Forest Service is a division of the USDA.

Democratic lawmakers said Monday's announcement was nothing more than a favor to timber companies. Environmentalists fear that states, including Alaska, Colorado and Idaho, which support logging, would have little incentive to ask for restrictions in forests.

"The Bush administration is now throwing the door wide open to unlimited exploitation of national forests in every state," said Nancy Pelosi of California, the U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader. Many western governors, who have demanded that states be consulted over new roadless-area designations, objected to earlier versions of the rule that locked up millions of acres of forests to development and prevented thinning measures needed to prevent wildfires.

"Our announcements today illustrate our commitment to working closely with the nation's governors to meet the needs of local communities, and to maintaining the undeveloped character of the most pristine areas of the National Forest System," Veneman said.

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who joined Veneman to introduce the proposal, said state governors would use the new rule to protect forests. "Just watch," he said. "There are areas where there will be roadless values."

The roadless-area plan has been subjected to nearly a dozen lawsuits since its adoption, mostly from western states. Federal judges in Wyoming and Idaho have blocked the rule, leading to appeals by environmental groups.

The public will have 60 days to comment on the rule.