Every public comment on the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule, sorted by what it talks about. Pick a topic, then narrow by position, by how hard the comment is for the agency to set aside, or by how substantive it is. Each comment is shown in full, as filed. How comments are classified and scored is explained in the Comment Analysis.
Opposes rescissionA1 strongSubstance 14/24Owed an answerAug 22, 2026FS-2025-0001-252322
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
I am writing to oppose rescission of 36 C.F.R. part 294, subpart B as proposed. The Department should identify what the rule prevents before removing it.
1. THE RULE ALREADY AUTHORIZES THE WORK THE NOTICE SAYS IT NEEDS
The stated need is wildfire, insects, disease, and community protection. Subpart B permits each. Section 294.13(b)(1)(ii) authorizes cutting and removal of generally small diameter timber "to maintain or restore the characteristics of ecosystem composition and structure, such as to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects" -- the notice's own rationale, already in force. Section 294.12(b)(1) authorizes roads needed against an imminent threat of flood, fire, or other catastrophic event; (b)(2)-(7) cover response actions, reserved rights, realignment, safety, and pre-2001 leases; 294.12(c) permits road maintenance. The rule restricts road construction and timber cutting; it does not restrict fire suppression at all.
Congress layered more on top. HFRA, 16 U.S.C. 6512, reaches wildland-urban interface land, municipal watersheds, and land threatened by "an epidemic of disease or insects," and its (d) exclusions do not reach roadless areas. Insect and disease designations under 6591a, with the exclusions at 6591b, 6591d and 6591e, add expedited authority. None of it requires rescission.
REQUEST: identify, by unit, year, and acreage, every fuels, insect and disease, or hazard-tree project the Forest Service declined to propose or could not approve solely because of 294.12 or 294.13, and explain why 294.13(b)(1)(ii) was insufficient. The notice has no such list. Without one, the need is unsupported.
2. THE MEANS ARE NOT MATCHED TO THE STATED END
The notice reports 9.8 million acres of wildland-urban interface overlap and 18.2 million acres where plans would permit permanent roads. It removes the prohibition across all of it, not the acreage where the stated risk is documented. A rescission scoped to documented risk would serve the stated purpose. This one reaches further.
The record also points elsewhere for cause. Acres treated for wildfire risk fell from roughly 4.1 million in FY2024 to roughly 2.6 million in FY2025 -- 35 percent, with the rule unchanged in both years -- amid the loss of roughly 5,000 staff. Rescission adds no crews and no appropriations. If the constraint is workforce, a rule change cannot relieve it.
3. THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS ARE NARROWER THAN THE USE MADE OF THEM
E.O. 14153 section 3(c), 90 Fed. Reg. 8351, directs the Secretary to address the 2023 Alaska Roadless Rule and reinstate the 2020 Alaska rule. It is Alaska-specific on its face and cannot support a nationwide rescission reaching some 45 million acres -- 58.5 million less the retained Idaho and Colorado rules (9.3M and 4.2M).
More fundamentally, each cited order states that it creates no right or benefit enforceable at law and is to be implemented consistent with applicable law. That clause cuts both ways: it defeats a challenge to the orders, and equally defeats any suggestion that the Department was compelled. Authority over National Forest System lands is delegated by statute. An order may direct how the Secretary exercises discretion; it cannot enlarge it or substitute for the findings NFMA and MUSYA require. See also 16 U.S.C. 531(a): multiple use does not mean the combination of uses giving "the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output."
4. THE DEPARTMENT ALREADY BUILT THE ALTERNATIVE
Subparts C and D answer the notice's own premise. Idaho's management themes and Colorado's upper-tier structure deliver graduated, place-based flexibility -- community protection zone treatment, temporary road authority -- inside a retained roadless rule. Both have stood since 2008 and 2012, and are being kept. Explain why that model cannot be extended, and why targeted amendments to 294.12 and 294.13, drawn from 294.42-.43, were not analyzed.
5. REQUESTS FOR THE RECORD
a. State whether ESA section 7 consultation on this rescission has been initiated, with whom, and when. Lockyer v. USDA, 575 F.3d 999 (9th Cir. 2009), set aside the identical 2005 repeal for failing to consult before effecting it. This notice mentions the Act once, in a savings clause.
b. Publish the models behind the harvest, revenue, and recreation figures, or omit them from any final rule; data relied on must be exposed to comment. State the "potentially affected environment" acreage and reconcile it to 58.5M, or another figure as apporpirate.
c. Place the ANILCA section 810 evaluation, notice, hearing, and findings inside the EIS, as 16 U.S.C. 3120(b) requires.
d. Add monitoring, reporting on acres roaded, and a scheduled reassessment -- rescission is reversible on paper; installed roads are virtually irreversible.
Thank you for your service to the People of the United States.