Read the comments.

I am writing as a Private land owner with land adjoining the South Fork Trinity Roadless area to oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RR). I urge the Forest Service (FS) to retain the current RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission under Alt. 2 & any alternative that substantially weakens protections. The DEIS stated purpose of the proposed rescission emphasizes greater local decision-making authority in forest planning processes. Yet, the original RR was established in part due to the failure of local forest planning process to maintain ecological, cultural, & public values of roadless areas to an adequate level. Returning these decisions to wholly local planning processes should not be treated as a substitute for consistent nationwide protection measurements. As a Land owner, I am concerned about the claim that removing the RR is necessary to reduce wildfire risk & that putting these forests under local control would have little adverse impact on the ability to protect their values as undeveloped wildlands. The DEIS recognizes that increased road construction can provide additional opportunities for wildfire response & fuels management, but it can also increase opportunities for unplanned human-caused ignitions. 96.2% of fires start within 800m of a road (Pacific Biodiv. Inst.). More roads=more fires. Wildfire risk reduction should not be used as a blanket justification for expanding roads & resource extraction into millions of acres of roadless wildlands. Effective fire management should prioritize strategic, science-based, site-specific treatments where they meaningfully protect communities & firefighters, rather than broadly removing protections from remote landscapes. I urge the FS to explain how proposed road construction or vegetation management would demonstrably improve community protection, firefighter safety, ecological resilience, and Recreation, & to fully account for the increased ignition risks & long-term maintenance burdens associated with new roads. The agency should disclose & analyze the potential for new roads to increase suppression complexity, vehicle hazards, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation challenges, invasive vegetation & future human-caused wildfire ignitions. Claims that road construction will improve firefighter safety must be supported by an analysis of the specific operational conditions under which new roads may provide a potential safety benefit—but also create new safety risks & hazards during suppression operations. Roadless areas provide some of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in the National Forest System (NFS). Removing nationwide protections could increase opportunities for road construction & logging, mining & drilling, with impacts degrading wildlife habitat, connectivity, water, soils, biodiversity, recreation & other ecological values. The RR was initially implemented to protect the ecological values of these forests as a connected & biodiverse landscape that local control could not account for. The DEIS acknowledges that more road construction & timber harvest are reasonably foreseeable if the RR is rescinded or revised. I am particularly concerned about wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, soil erosion & invasive species. The FS should not rely solely on future, site-specific project reviews to protect these values. Once protections are removed, individual decisions may fail to account for the cumulative loss & fragmentation of roadless landscapes across the NFS. The DEIS recognizes that additional road construction & timber harvesting could have long-term negative effects on Tribal rights & interests, including impacts to treaty-reserved resources, sacred sites, ancestral trails & culturally significant areas. I urge the FS to ensure meaningful Tribal collaboration & to fully incorporate Tribal knowledge & concerns before any decision is made to remove protections. Regarding Indigenous sovereignty, I am particularly concerned about sacred sites, treaty-reserved resources, traditional gathering areas, cultural forestscapes, and increased unauthorized access. New roads can also increase physical access to areas that have previously remained relatively protected from unauthorized entry, human-caused disturbance, & resource extraction. These consequences should be considered alongside direct impacts to culturally significant places & treaty-reserved resources. Future consultation on individual projects is not an adequate substitute for considering these impacts before a nationwide protection is removed. I am concerned that my adjoining private land will be impacted by roads and road use! For these reasons, I urge the FS to retain the RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed rescission, ensuring that wildfire policy is grounded in operational reality, ecological integrity, Tribal knowledge & rights, & the long-term safety of firefighters & communities.

I am writing as a environmental advocate, recreationalist, public lands user, concerned citizen, and public health advocate to oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RR). I urge the Forest Service (FS) to retain the current RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission under Alt. 2 & any alternative that substantially weakens protections. The DEIS stated purpose of the proposed rescission emphasizes greater local decision-making authority in forest planning processes. Yet, the original RR was established in part due to the failure of local forest planning process to maintain ecological, cultural, & public values of roadless areas to an adequate level. I am concerned about the claim that removing the RR is necessary to reduce wildfire risk & that putting these forests under local control would have little adverse impact on the ability to protect their values as undeveloped wildlands. The DEIS recognizes that increased road construction can provide additional opportunities for wildfire response & fuels management, but it can also increase opportunities for unplanned human-caused ignitions. 96% of fires start within 800m of a road (Pacific Biodiv. Inst.). More roads=more fires. Wildfire risk reduction should not be used as a blanket justification for expanding roads & resource extraction into millions of acres of roadless wildlands. Effective fire management should prioritize strategic, science-based, site-specific treatments where they meaningfully protect communities & firefighters, rather than broadly removing protections from remote landscapes. I urge the FS to explain how proposed road construction or vegetation management would demonstrably improve community protection & to fully account for the increased ignition risks & long-term maintenance burdens associated with new roads. The agency should disclose & analyze the potential for new roads to increase suppression complexity, vehicle hazards, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation challenges, invasive vegetation & future human-caused wildfire ignitions. Claims that road construction will improve firefighter safety should be supported by a tradeoff analysis of the specific operational conditions under which new roads may provide a potential safety benefit—but also create new safety risks & hazards during suppression operations. Roadless areas provide some of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in the National Forest System (NFS). Removing nationwide protections could increase opportunities for road construction & logging, mining & drilling, with impacts degrading wildlife habitat, connectivity, water, soils, biodiversity, recreation & other ecological values. The RR was initially implemented to protect the ecological values of these forests as a connected & biodiverse landscape that local control could not account for. The DEIS acknowledges that more road construction & timber harvest are foreseeable if the RR is rescinded or revised. I am particularly concerned about wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, biodiversity, and climate resilience. The FS cannot rely solely on future, site-specific project reviews to protect these values. Once nationwide protections are removed, individual decisions may fail to account for the cumulative loss & fragmentation of roadless landscapes across the NFS. The DEIS recognizes that additional road construction & timber harvesting may have long-term negative effects on Tribal rights & interests, including impacts to treaty-reserved resources, sacred sites, ancestral trails & other culturally significant areas. I urge the FS to ensure meaningful government-to-government collaboration & to fully incorporate Tribal knowledge & concerns before any decision is made to remove protections. Regarding Indigenous sovereignty, I am particularly concerned about sacred sites. New roads can also increase physical access to areas that have previously remained relatively protected from unauthorized entry, human-caused disturbance & resource extraction. These consequences should be considered alongside direct impacts to culturally significant places & treaty-reserved resources. A road becomes a weak point - an entryway for invasive species, fire danger (people, vehicles), a barrier to wildlife movement & a disruption to an intact ecosystem. At a time when we need more RESILIENCE and the ability to withstand more extreme weather & when firefighting resources are being more spread thinly, we cannot afford to rescind the RR. Please be forward thinking and read the writing on the wall -- we have already done too much damage to the natural world! Let's protect the places we still have. For these reasons, I urge the FS to retain the 2001 RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed rescission, ensuring that wildfire policy is grounded in operational reality, ecological integrity, Tribal knowledge & rights & the long-term safety of firefighters & communities.

I am writing as a environmental advocate and concerned citizen to oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RR). I urge the Forest Service (FS) to retain the current RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission under Alt. 2 & any alternative that substantially weakens protections. The DEIS stated purpose of the proposed rescission emphasizes greater local decision-making authority in forest planning processes. Yet, the original RR was established in part due to the failure of local forest planning process to maintain ecological, cultural, & public values of roadless areas to an adequate level. Returning these decisions to wholly local planning processes should not be treated as a substitute for consistent nationwide protection measurements. As a community member, I am concerned about the claim that removing the RR is necessary to reduce wildfire risk & that putting these forests under local control would have little adverse impact on the ability to protect their values as undeveloped wildlands. The DEIS recognizes that increased road construction can provide additional opportunities for wildfire response & fuels management, but it can also increase opportunities for unplanned human-caused ignitions. 96.2% of fires start within 800m of a road (Pacific Biodiv. Instit.). More roads=more fires. Wildfire risk reduction should not be used as a blanket justification for expanding roads & resource extraction into millions of acres of roadless wildlands. Effective fire management should prioritize strategic, science-based, site-specific treatments where they meaningfully protect communities & firefighters, rather than broadly removing protections from remote landscapes. I urge the FS to explain how proposed road construction or vegetation management would demonstrably improve community protection, firefighter safety, ecological resilience, any of the threats posed by our hotter, drier and windier conditions evolving throughout forest service land. Our response to these changing conditions requires more conservation, and not less., & to fully account for the increased ignition risks & long-term maintenance burdens associated with new roads. The agency should also disclose & analyze the potential for new roads to increase suppression complexity, vehicle hazards, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation challenges, invasive vegetation, & future human-caused wildfire ignitions. Claims that road construction will improve firefighter safety should be supported by a tradeoff analysis of the specific operational conditions under which new roads may provide a potential safety benefit—but also create new safety risks & hazards during suppression operations. Roadless areas provide some of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in the National Forest System. Removing nationwide protections could increase opportunities for road construction & logging, mining, & drilling, with impacts degrading wildlife habitat, connectivity, water, soils, biodiversity, recreation, & other ecological values. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was initially implemented to protect the ecological values of these forests as a connected & biodiverse landscape that local control could not account for. The DEIS acknowledges that more road construction & timber harvest are reasonably foreseeable if the RR is rescinded or revised under Alt. 2 & 3. The FS should not rely solely on future, site-specific project reviews to protect these values. Once nationwide protections are removed, individual decisions may fail to account for the cumulative loss & fragmentation of roadless landscapes across the National Forest System. The DEIS recognizes that additional road construction & timber harvesting could have long-term negative effects on Tribal rights & interests, including impacts to treaty-reserved resources, sacred sites, ancestral trails, & other culturally significant areas. I urge the FS to ensure meaningful government-to-government collaboration & to fully incorporate Tribal knowledge & concerns before any decision is made to remove protections. Regarding Indigenous sovereignty, I am particularly concerned about sacred sites and cultural forestscapes. New roads can also increase physical access to areas that have previously remained relatively protected from unauthorized entry, human-caused disturbance, & resource extraction. These consequences should be considered alongside direct impacts to culturally significant places & treaty-reserved resources. Future consultation on individual projects is not an adequate substitute for considering these impacts before a nationwide protection is removed. For these reasons, I urge the FS to retain the RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed rescission, ensuring that wildfire policy is grounded in operational reality, ecological integrity, Tribal knowledge & rights, & the long-term safety of firefighters & communities.

I am writing as a concerned citizen to oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RR). I urge the Forest Service (FS) to retain the current RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission under Alt. 2 & any alternative that substantially weakens protections. The DEIS stated purpose of the proposed rescission emphasizes greater local decision-making authority in forest planning processes. Yet, the original RR was established in part due to the failure of local forest planning process to maintain ecological, cultural, & public values of roadless areas to an adequate level. Returning these decisions to wholly local planning processes should not be treated as a substitute for consistent nationwide protection measurements. As a recreationalist and community member, I am concerned about the claim that removing the RR is necessary to reduce wildfire risk & that putting these forests under local control would have little adverse impact on the ability to protect their values as undeveloped wildlands. The DEIS recognizes that increased road construction can provide additional opportunities for wildfire response & fuels management, but it can also increase opportunities for unplanned human-caused ignitions. 96.2% of fires start within 800m of a road (Pacific Biodiv. Inst.). More roads=more fires. Wildfire risk reduction should not be used as a blanket justification for expanding roads & resource extraction into millions of acres of roadless wildlands. Effective fire management should prioritize strategic, science-based, site-specific treatments where they meaningfully protect communities & firefighters, rather than broadly removing protections from remote landscapes. I urge the FS to explain how proposed road construction or vegetation management would demonstrably improve community protection, firefighter safety, and ecological resilience, & to fully account for the increased ignition risks & long-term maintenance burdens associated with new roads. The agency should also disclose & analyze the potential for new roads to increase suppression complexity, vehicle hazards, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation challenges, invasive vegetation, & future human-caused wildfire ignitions. Claims that road construction will improve firefighter safety should be supported by a tradeoff analysis of the specific operational conditions under which new roads may provide a potential safety benefit—but also create new safety risks & hazards during suppression operations. Roadless areas provide some of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in the National Forest System (NFS). Removing nationwide protections could increase opportunities for road construction & logging, mining, & drilling, with impacts degrading wildlife habitat, connectivity, water, soils, biodiversity, recreation, & other ecological values. The RR was initially implemented to protect the ecological values of these forests as a connected & biodiverse landscape that local control could not account for. The DEIS acknowledges that more road construction & timber harvest are reasonably foreseeable if the RR is rescinded or revised. I am particularly concerned about wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, soil erosion, invasive species, biodiversity, climate resilience, firefighter risk, and landscape fire restoration. The FS should not rely solely on future, site-specific project reviews to protect these values. Once nationwide protections are removed, individual decisions may fail to account for the cumulative loss & fragmentation of roadless landscapes across the NFS. The DEIS recognizes that additional road construction & timber harvesting could have long-term negative effects on Tribal rights & interests, including impacts to treaty-reserved resources, sacred sites, ancestral trails, & other culturally significant areas. I urge the FS to ensure meaningful government-to-government collaboration & to fully incorporate Tribal knowledge & concerns before any decision is made to remove protections. Regarding Indigenous sovereignty, I am particularly concerned about sacred sites, treaty-reserved resources, traditional gathering areas, cultural forestscapes, and increased unauthorized access. New roads can also increase physical access to areas that have previously remained relatively protected from unauthorized entry, human-caused disturbance, & resource extraction. These consequences should be considered alongside direct impacts to culturally significant places & treaty-reserved resources. Future consultation on individual projects is not an adequate substitute for considering these impacts before a nationwide protection is removed. For these reasons, I urge the FS to retain the RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed rescission, ensuring that wildfire policy is grounded in operational reality, ecological integrity, Tribal knowledge & rights, & the long-term safety of firefighters & communities.

I am writing as a scientist to oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RR). I urge the Forest Service (FS) to retain the current RR under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission under Alt. 2 & any alternative that substantially weakens protections. The DEIS stated purpose of the proposed rescission emphasizes greater local decision-making authority in forest planning processes. Yet, the original RR was established in part due to the failure of local forest planning process to maintain ecological, cultural, & public values of roadless areas to an adequate level. Returning these decisions to wholly local planning processes should not be treated as a substitute for consistent nationwide protection measurements. As a community member, I am concerned about the claim that removing the RR is necessary to reduce wildfire risk & that putting these forests under local control would have little adverse impact on the ability to protect their values as undeveloped wildlands. The DEIS recognizes that increased road construction can provide additional opportunities for wildfire response & fuels management, but it can also increase opportunities for unplanned human-caused ignitions. 96.2% of fires start within 800m of a road (Pacific Biodiv. Inst.). More roads=more fires. Wildfire risk reduction should not be used as a blanket justification for expanding roads & resource extraction into millions of acres of roadless wildlands. Effective fire management should prioritize strategic, science-based, site-specific treatments where they meaningfully protect communities & firefighters, rather than broadly removing protections from remote landscapes. I urge the FS to explain how proposed road construction or vegetation management would demonstrably improve ecological resilience, & to fully account for the increased ignition risks & long-term maintenance burdens associated with new roads. The agency should also disclose & analyze the potential for new roads to increase suppression complexity, vehicle hazards, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation challenges, invasive vegetation, & future human-caused wildfire ignitions. Claims that road construction will improve firefighter safety should be supported by a tradeoff analysis of the specific operational conditions under which new roads may provide a potential safety benefit—but also create new safety risks & hazards during suppression operations. Roadless areas provide some of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in the National Forest System (NFS). Removing nationwide protections could increase opportunities for road construction & logging, mining, & drilling, with impacts degrading wildlife habitat, connectivity, water, soils, biodiversity, recreation, & other ecological values. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was initially implemented to protect the ecological values of these forests as a connected & biodiverse landscape that local control could not account for. The DEIS acknowledges that more road construction & timber harvest are reasonably foreseeable if the RR is rescinded or revised under Alt. 2 & 3. I am particularly concerned about wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, soil erosion, invasive species, biodiversity, climate resilience, firefighter risk, and landscape fire restoration. The FS should not rely solely on future, site-specific project reviews to protect these values. Once nationwide protections are removed, individual decisions may fail to account for the cumulative loss & fragmentation of roadless landscapes across the NFS. The DEIS recognizes that additional road construction & timber harvesting could have long-term negative effects on Tribal rights & interests, including impacts to treaty-reserved resources, sacred sites, ancestral trails, & other culturally significant areas. I urge the FS to ensure meaningful government-to-government collaboration & to fully incorporate Tribal knowledge & concerns before any decision is made to remove protections. Regarding Indigenous sovereignty, I am particularly concerned about sacred sites, treaty-reserved resources, traditional gathering areas, cultural forestscapes, and increased unauthorized access. New roads can also increase physical access to areas that have previously remained relatively protected from unauthorized entry, human-caused disturbance, & resource extraction. These consequences should be considered alongside direct impacts to culturally significant places & treaty-reserved resources. Future consultation on individual projects is not an adequate substitute for considering these impacts before a nationwide protection is removed. For these reasons, I urge the FS to retain the 2001 Roadless Rule under Alt. 1 & reject the proposed nationwide rescission, ensuring that wildfire policy is grounded in operational reality, ecological integrity, Tribal knowledge & rights, & the long-term safety of firefighters & communities.