The Public Record · Docket FS-2025-0001

Read the comments.

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.

1 unique comments75 submissions

Position

Opposes rescission 100.0%

Answerability

A1 strong 0
A2 moderate 0
A3 weak 0
A0 none 1

Substance /24

Median 3middle half 3–3 · 1 scored

Topics raised

75 submissions in this letter's group · showing 1–20Clear all filters

Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Sep 21, 2026FS-2025-0001-456381
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
“I live in the piedmont and have family in Western North Carolina , and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. In addition, research shows that wildfires are more likely to occur in areas that have been cleared and built upon than natural areas. The American people and citizens of NC do NOT want to see our forest lands, national parks, and undisturbed nature torn into for timber, mining, or private profits otherwise. We love these places for their natural diversity and for the greater good of society. Please keep these protections in place.”
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Sep 12, 2026FS-2025-0001-360305
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I regularly visit western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and the local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Sep 7, 2026FS-2025-0001-325628
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I have lived in North Carolina my entire life, and although I don’t live in western North Carolina, I visit frequently to go camping in Pisgah national forest and Nantahala national forest. Many of my friends and family also use these public lands. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. Helene had a devastating effect on so many beautiful natural areas that both locals and tourists enjoy, and we will be healing for DECADES. WNC SHOULD NOT BE MADE TO SACRIFICE MORE.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Sep 3, 2026FS-2025-0001-311670
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
As a resident of the Carolinas, I strongly oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation, and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. These wilderness areas are irreplaceable, and should be retained. Please keep these protections in place.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 6/24Sep 1, 2026FS-2025-0001-298740
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place.” I personally spend so much time on various trails in Pisgah, including shining, creek, east fork, cemetery loop, cove creek, looking glass rock and so forth L, summer, spring, fall and winter... Really any chance I get.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Sep 1, 2026FS-2025-0001-299063
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina (Canton) and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. We love hiking and fishing in these areas - no changes are needed.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Aug 28, 2026FS-2025-0001-280520
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. My family hikes and swims and fishes in our streams and rivers in Pisgah National Forest. Please keep these protections in place.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Aug 27, 2026FS-2025-0001-273717
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
: I live in Western North Carolina and DEEPLY oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. Helene had a devastating effect on so many beautiful natural areas that both locals and tourists enjoy, and we will be healing for DECADES. WNC SHOULD NOT BE MADE TO SACRIFICE MORE.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 3/24Aug 27, 2026FS-2025-0001-273811
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
"I live in Sky Valley, GA immediately bordering Western Carolina, and oppose the rescinding of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala's roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. Respectfully, Carol Daniel Hughes
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Aug 27, 2026FS-2025-0001-273850
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Brevard, Transylvania County, Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala's roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. The forests are what feeds tourism, art, music. I moved here for its natural beauty and ability to enjoy hiking and mountain biking at my backyard. Please Protect the forests.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 3/24Aug 27, 2026FS-2025-0001-274350
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. I’m a frequent hiker and fly fisher in WNC in the Sylva, Brevard, Cashiers, Glenville and Waynesville areas. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Aug 27, 2026FS-2025-0001-274977
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I grew up in Western North Carolina (Haywood County) between the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests and I oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. If you spent even an hour in one of these forests, you would agree.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 4/24Aug 25, 2026FS-2025-0001-269192
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and love participating in outdoor recreation activities in our nearby forests. These lands are sacred and belong to the Earth, not to politicians and those with greedy interests. I strongly and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-262896
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. Me and my family have spent many special moments in these areas and we actively oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please preserve these very special natural places.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 3/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-262975
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. I very much enjoy the natural beauty of the Pisgah National park, as well as I believe it is an important ecological area to keep intact as much as possible. In time, we will look back and wished we had kept and preserved more land like this, not less.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-264460
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
“I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Additionally this area lost over 40% of its tree canopy as a result of hurricane Helene, we do not need more trees removed. Please keep these protections in place.”
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 3/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-264723
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. I frequently hike in these national forests and do not want the Federal government to disrupt the beauty of nature that exists. Leave well enough alone, please.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 2/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-264758
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Central North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. My children desrve to see the beauty of the forests as I have.
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Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 3/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-264915
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I am from North Carolina born and raised. I have spent a ton of time in these forests and think of them as core to the character of the state. I oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place.
Full analysis of this comment →
Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 5/24Aug 24, 2026FS-2025-0001-265710
PLACESTANDDOCGAPEVIDASKALTLAW
Campaign — One letter sent by 10 or more people, copied or lightly reworded. See the letter, its submissions and topics.One of 75 submissions in its group.
I live in Western North Carolina and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Pisgah and Nantahala’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife, mature forests, recreation and our local tourism economy. The current rule already allows necessary work addressing wildfire, disease and public safety. New roads would fragment habitat, increase erosion and create additional maintenance costs. Please keep these protections in place. I cannot stress how important preserving our natural spaces is to the wellbeing of our community. Areas I love could be affected by this appeal and I would be so sad to lose access to them and the peace they provide me and people I care about. Please please please protect the wilderness of North Carolina.
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Please cite us. This analysis is the intellectual property of Roadless.org and Nicholas Holshouser. You are welcome to reproduce it — every reproduction must include this citation:

Roadless.org and Nicholas Holshouser, “2001 Roadless Rule Revision — Substantive Analysis,” https://roadless.org.

How it works. A large language model (an open-weight Qwen3.8 model) reads each substantive comment and copies, word for word, the passages that carry its analytical gap, evidence, request, alternative and connection to the place; it returns no scores. Code grades those passages 0–3 on eight dimensions — evidence, legal grounding, engagement with the environmental analysis, analytical gaps, alternatives, specific requests, position, and local knowledge — with legal grounding taken from a citation scan, not the model. For the strongest tenth on each side, the copied passages are checked against the comment and shown as exhibits. A comment counts as “substantive” when it clears a floor filter — it must show at least one substantive signal (a named entity, a specific citation, a stated analytical deficiency, or first-person testimony), which screens out one-line and purely conclusory submissions before any model scoring.

The full method. Every step, why it is done that way, its known limits and a glossary: Methodologies →

The data. The full canonical dataset — every comment on Docket FS-2025-0001 — is available from Regulations.gov: https://www.regulations.gov/bulkdownload.

Roadless.org — analysis of the public comment docket.
Media inquiries welcome — nicholas@wanderingnature.com.