A total of 58 million acres (23 million hectares) -- roughly the size of Idaho, the 14th largest US state -- is at stake in the Trump administration's latest roll-back of environmental protections to further business interests.

The change was announced Monday after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins attended an event in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Environmental groups expressed outrage and said they would fight the repeal in court.

Rollins said the Trump administration would repeal what is known as the "roadless rule" dating from 2001, which preserved the untouched nature of a third of the land in US national forests.

The rule introduced by then president Bill Clinton under executive authority outlawed logging, road building, mining and drilling on 58 million acres of the remaining undeveloped national forest lands.

At the time it was hailed as a huge step in protecting wild, untouched American lands with their bounty of clean water, wildlife, hunting and fishing.

But Rollins dismissed the rule as outdated.

"Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common-sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule," Rollins said in a statement.

Since Trump -- a fervent proponent of fossil fuels and a climate change skeptic -- returned to power in late January, federal authorities have gutted United States' climate policy, easing regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions and other protections.

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would undo dozens of measures enacted during President Joe Biden's term in office, including those cutting vehicle emissions and drastically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that coal-fired power plants can emit.

Critics said that with the forest protection repeal the Trump administration is treating untouched public land as fodder for industry to make money.

"The Roadless Rule has been remarkably successful in protecting our nation's forests from destructive energy development, mining, logging and road building for nearly 25 years," Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement.

"Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breathe and drink, abundant recreational opportunities which millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons," he added.