A new rule announced Thursday by the Bush administration that could permit road building in millions of untouched acres of national forests in 38 states — including 4 million acres of roadless forest land in Utah — already has conservationists and the timber industry at loggerheads.

Conservationists, whose reactions are ranging from anger to bewilderment, said allowing states more control over roadless management makes way for logging, mining and other currently banned commercial uses.

"By revoking the landmark roadless rule, the Bush administration is leaving wild forests vulnerable to destructive commercial timber sales and road building," said Lawson LeGate, the Salt Lake City-based senior southwest regional representative for the Sierra Club.

Steven Steed, president of an Escalante timber company, Skyline Forest Resources, praised the change. "From just the first look here, my first reaction is, gosh, this is kind of refreshing." He said the change might mean the Forest Service will "work a little closer with the governors of the states. Maybe for a change we'll see the needs of local communities considered a little more than we have in the past."

The 58.5 million acres of national forest lands affected by the change amounts to 2 percent of the country's total land base and 31 percent of U.S. Forest Service land.

In explaining the rule change, the Forest Service said in a written statement: "Strong state and federal cooperation in the management of these areas will foster strong local involvement and support for how they are ultimately conserved."

The agency's news release adds that the Bush administration and the Forest Service remain committed to working closely with governors "to meet the needs of local communities and to maintaining the undeveloped character of these unique areas of our national forests and grasslands."

The new rule allows governors to ask the secretary of the department to develop regulations to meet roadless rules for each state, says the USDA.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is pleased that managers of federal forests will place more emphasis on working with states, under the regulation issued by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

"I appreciate the opportunity the secretary of agriculture has offered governors to work with state, local and tribal officials to determine the best management for these Forest Service inventoried roadless areas," Huntsman said in a press release.

Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said the rule gives great flexibility to governors to respond on a forest-by-forest basis to issues involving roadless areas. "It also allows the needs and concerns of local communities to be addressed," he said.