Read the comments.

I urge you to rescind the proposal discussed in FS-2025-0001-223869, Special Areas: Roadless Area Conservation, because of the irrevocable devastation it would cause. Once roads are built, there is no way to undo the damage. According to the analysis in the DEIS, elimination of the Roadless Rule across 45 million acres nationwide would result in a loss of up to $9 million a year from lowered visitor spending, especially hurting local communities, 327 ESA-listed species and 71 critical habitats would be negatively impacted, threaten Tribal sacred and archeological sites, exacerbate the Forest Service’s estimated maintenance backlog of over $8.6 billion covering the existing 370,000 miles of roads, and could actually increase fire risk. More roads will result in more human-caused fires in the backcountry. Research shows that more than 60 percent of human-caused fires on national forests in the Lower 48 states are ignited within 1/8-mile of the nearest road, and 95 percent are ignited within 1/2-mile. Agencies already have authority to manage fuels and fight fires in roadless areas, including the construction of roads for emergency situations. There is no reason to repeal the Roadless Rule. To repeal the Roadless Rule without early, meaningful, government-to-government consultation with affected Tribes would be a violation of the Constitution, Federal law, treaty obligations, Tribal sovereignty, and religious rights. Roadless areas sustain ecosystems Tribal Nations have relied on for generations and are critical to food security for many indigenous communities as well as for sustaining cultural practices, including hunting, fishing, and gathering forest plants for food, medicine, and traditional arts. Roadless areas also include sacred sites and ancestral homelands, such as in the Tongass National Forest for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. The DEIS does analyze Tribal rights and interests. The defect is in what that analysis contains, and the DEIS says so itself. This comment is directed at the Tribal Rights and Interests section, pp. 205–210, and at the compliance representation Table 52 rests on it (p. 247). I request that the FEIS supplement the Tribal Rights and Interests analysis to do what the DEIS presently does not: for each tribe whose treaty-reserved rights the record identifies — including at minimum the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes — (1) identify the treaty and the rights reserved; (2) map the inventoried roadless acreage lying within the ceded territory, usual-and-accustomed area, or identified subsistence use area to which those rights attach; (3) state, by alternative, the acres of that overlap in which road construction and timber harvest would become permissible; and (4) analyze the effect of that change on the quantity, quality, and ecological integrity of the treaty resources on which, by the DEIS's own statement at p. 210, the usability of the right depends. Where a boundary is confidential under the authorities the DEIS cites at footnote 65, the acreage can be reported in aggregate without disclosing the boundary, and the FEIS should report it that way and say so rather than omit the analysis. Until that analysis exists, the DEIS cannot support a comparison of alternatives for this resource, and the sections Table 52 identifies cannot document compliance with E.O. 13175. Given the widespread multifaceted harms repealing the Roadless Rule would cause it is imperative that it be improved by: Eliminating the logging loopholes. Logging does not improve anything - it only causes degradation. Instead of the 2000 EIS estimated ~ 1,400 acres of logging in roadless areas across the nation annually, on average from 2008-2018, there has been 3,200 acres of inventoried roadless logging annually in Montana alone. The majority of which was from using Roadless Rule loopholes. Eliminating livestock grazing in our inventoried roadless areas. Livestock grazing spreads invasive grasses that exacerbate wildfires, displaces wildlife, destroys habitat, and pollutes clean water. Despite being only four percent of livestock production in this nation, livestock grazing is pervasive on nearly 250 million acres of our public lands. The Forest Service is clandestinely restocking vacant grazing allotments with cattle, including in roadless areas and Wilderness, without public knowledge or participation. Restricting motorized and mechanized use in our inventoried roadless areas. Research shows that motorized and mechanized access (on roads, trails, or over the snow) harm wildlife, from elk to grizzly bears. Extend the provisions of this strengthened national rule to Idaho and Colorado, which currently have less protective rules. Thank you

I urge you to rescind the proposal discussed in FS-2025-0001-223869, Special Areas: Roadless Area Conservation, because of the irrevocable devastation it would cause. Once roads are built, there is no way to undo the damage. According to the analysis in the DEIS, elimination of the Roadless Rule across 45 million acres nationwide would result in a loss of up to $9 million a year from lowered visitor spending, especially hurting local communities, 327 ESA-listed species and 71 critical habitats would be negatively impacted, threaten Tribal sacred and archeological sites, exacerbate the Forest Service’s estimated maintenance backlog of over $8.6 billion covering the existing 370,000 miles of roads, and could actually increase fire risk. More roads will result in more human-caused fires in the backcountry. Research shows that more than 60 percent of human-caused fires on national forests in the Lower 48 states are ignited within 1/8-mile of the nearest road, and 95 percent are ignited within 1/2-mile. Agencies already have authority to manage fuels and fight fires in roadless areas, including the construction of roads for emergency situations. There is no reason to repeal the Roadless Rule. Roadless areas are essential recreation and tourism industries. They include more than 25,000 miles of trails, 8,500 climbing routes, nearly 1,000 miles of whitewater, and more than 10,000 miles of mountain biking routes. Rivers flowing through roadless areas provide outstanding opportunities for river-based recreation like whitewater boating and angling. In CA some of the most exciting and challenging class III-V whitewater boating opportunities in the western Sierra Nevada, including the Middle Fork Feather, North Fork American, Tuolumne, Merced, Kings, and North Fork Kern Rivers. Large sections of the Continental Divide, Pacific Crest, and Appalachian National Scenic trails cross protected roadless areas. Popular destinations in Oregon include the Metolius River, Lost Lake, the Oregon Dunes, Mount Hebo, Hardesty Mountain, Tumalo Mountain, and the Upper Hood River Valley. The Tongass's healthy waterways sustain some of the world's most productive wild salmon runs, supporting subsistence harvests and commercial and sport fishing, as well as the businesses and communities that depend on them. Salmon contribute approximately $1 billion annually to the Southeast Alaska economy. Tourism and recreation add substantially more, making the Tongass central to a regional economy built around its natural resources. What’s more, the seafood and tourism industries account for roughly one-quarter of Southeast Alaska's labor force. Nationwide the outdoor recreation economy generates $730 billion annually. Road construction would have a chilling effect on tourism and outdoor recreation, which provide essential revenue for nearby businesses and communities. It is to our economic advantage to protect public lands. Access to healthy public lands drives job growth, tourism, and boosts rural economies. The outdoor industry is also one of the fastest growing in the U.S. Continued protection of public lands will ensure continued revenue. Keeping roadless areas undeveloped saves money on costly road construction and maintenance. At the time the Roadless Rule was enacted, it was considered an economic necessity. The $8.6 million maintenance backlog was a significant liability for American taxpayers, and it has only grown. Many of the roads that currently cross our national forests are badly eroded, which can lead to landslides, contribute to habitat degradation and be unsafe to use. Given the widespread multifaceted harms repealing the Roadless Rule would cause it is imperative that it be improved by: Eliminating the logging loopholes. Logging does not improve anything - it only causes degradation. Instead of the 2000 EIS estimated ~ 1,400 acres of logging in roadless areas across the nation annually, on average from 2008-2018, there has been 3,200 acres of inventoried roadless logging annually in Montana alone. The majority of which was from using Roadless Rule loopholes. Eliminating livestock grazing in our inventoried roadless areas. Livestock grazing spreads invasive grasses that exacerbate wildfires, displaces wildlife, destroys habitat, and pollutes clean water. Despite being only four percent of livestock production in this nation, livestock grazing is pervasive on nearly 250 million acres of our public lands. The Forest Service is clandestinely restocking vacant grazing allotments with cattle, including in roadless areas and Wilderness, without public knowledge or participation. Restricting motorized and mechanized use in our inventoried roadless areas. Research shows that motorized and mechanized access (on roads, trails, or over the snow) harm wildlife, from elk to grizzly bears. Extend the provisions of this strengthened national rule to Idaho and Colorado, which currently have less protective rules. Thank you

I urge you to rescind the proposal discussed in FS-2025-0001-223869, Special Areas: Roadless Area Conservation, because of the irrevocable devastation it would cause. Once roads are built, there is no way to undo the damage. According to the analysis in the DEIS, elimination of the Roadless Rule across 45 million acres nationwide would result in a loss of up to $9 million a year from lowered visitor spending, especially hurting local communities, 327 ESA-listed species and 71 critical habitats would be negatively impacted, threaten Tribal sacred and archeological sites, exacerbate the Forest Service’s estimated maintenance backlog of over $8.6 billion covering the existing 370,000 miles of roads, and could actually increase fire risk. More roads will result in more human-caused fires in the backcountry. Research shows that more than 60 percent of human-caused fires on national forests in the Lower 48 states are ignited within 1/8-mile of the nearest road, and 95 percent are ignited within 1/2-mile. Agencies already have authority to manage fuels and fight fires in roadless areas, including the construction of roads for emergency situations. There is no reason to repeal the Roadless Rule. One of the principal reasons the Roadless Rule was adopted was its important role protecting clean water. Roadless areas provide high water quality for downstream communities and farms. US National Forests are one of the largest sources of municipal water supply in the nation, serving over 60 million people in 3,400 communities in 33 states. Most Wild and Scenic Rivers in California flow into water supply reservoirs that contribute critical water supplies to the fourth largest economy in the world. Roads and the resource extraction projects roads facilitate (logging, mining, etc.) are a primary source of erosion and sedimentation on our national forests. Roads threaten high-quality streams and rivers. Dirt and sediment that runs off roads impairs water quality, and roads in steep, rugged country increase the risk of landslides that smother streams and rivers with mounds of mud. USDA's own draft environmental impact statement found that landslides are six to nine times more likely next to forest roads. There is already a shortage of drinking water. Enacting this proposal will make that shortage even more severe because of water contamination. Communities depend on clean water for drinking, irrigation, and business processes. Increased water contamination will raise costs for local water treatment and inflate families’ water bills at a time when many are already struggling with high costs of living as well as harm their health. The DEIS analyzes municipal water use at pp. 127-132 of Volume I, and that analysis states no effect under any alternative. I request that the FEIS: 1. Correct the incomplete sentence at p. 131 and state, for each alternative, the agency's finding on effects to municipal water use - expressed in the units the DEIS's own tables already use, intakes and population served by region. 2. Carry the sediment-delivery mechanism stated at p. 130 through to municipal source water, including effects on treatment cost and on treatment capacity during storm and post-disturbance runoff. 3. Disclose, for each region where the record identifies a specific system, what that analysis shows for the systems identified, using the Salt Lake City supply documented at Vol. III, pp. 246-247 as the worked example. Given the widespread multifaceted harms repealing the Roadless Rule would cause it is imperative that it be improved by: Eliminating the logging loopholes. Logging does not improve anything - it only causes degradation. Instead of the 2000 EIS estimated ~ 1,400 acres of logging in roadless areas across the nation annually, on average from 2008-2018, there has been 3,200 acres of inventoried roadless logging annually in Montana alone. The majority of which was from using Roadless Rule loopholes. Eliminating livestock grazing in our inventoried roadless areas. Livestock grazing spreads invasive grasses that exacerbate wildfires, displaces wildlife, destroys habitat, and pollutes clean water. Despite being only four percent of livestock production in this nation, livestock grazing is pervasive on nearly 250 million acres of our public lands. The Forest Service is clandestinely restocking vacant grazing allotments with cattle, including in roadless areas and Wilderness, without public knowledge or participation. Restricting motorized and mechanized use in our inventoried roadless areas. Research shows that motorized and mechanized access (on roads, trails, or over the snow) harm wildlife, from elk to grizzly bears. Extend the provisions of this strengthened national rule to Idaho and Colorado, which currently have less protective rules. Thank you

I urge you to rescind the proposal discussed in FS-2025-0001-223869, Special Areas: Roadless Area Conservation, because of the irrevocable devastation it would cause. Once roads are built, there is no way to undo the damage. According to the analysis in the DEIS, elimination of the Roadless Rule across 45 million acres nationwide would result in a loss of up to $9 million a year from lowered visitor spending, especially hurting local communities, 327 ESA-listed species and 71 critical habitats would be negatively impacted, threaten Tribal sacred and archeological sites, exacerbate the Forest Service’s estimated maintenance backlog of over $8.6 billion covering the existing 370,000 miles of roads, and could actually increase fire risk. More roads will result in more human-caused fires in the backcountry. Research shows that more than 60 percent of human-caused fires on national forests in the Lower 48 states are ignited within 1/8-mile of the nearest road, and 95 percent are ignited within 1/2-mile. Agencies already have authority to manage fuels and fight fires in roadless areas, including the construction of roads for emergency situations. There is no reason to repeal the Roadless Rule. Appalachia is particularly susceptible to flooding. Our trees slow the flow of water during heavy rains, holding the soil in place, preventing erosion and allowing more water to be absorbed by the soil and vegetation. Evidence shows that past deforestation of areas for mining and logging significantly contributes to the severity of flooding in the region. Removing the Roadless Rule protections will put Appalachian communities in further danger of flooding and landslides, especially as climate change increases heavy rainfall and flooding in the region. Given the widespread multifaceted harms repealing the Roadless Rule would cause it is imperative that it be improved by: Eliminating the logging loopholes. Logging does not improve anything - it only causes degradation. Instead of the 2000 EIS estimated ~ 1,400 acres of logging in roadless areas across the nation annually, on average from 2008-2018, there has been 3,200 acres of inventoried roadless logging annually in Montana alone. The majority of which was from using Roadless Rule loopholes. Eliminating livestock grazing in our inventoried roadless areas. Livestock grazing spreads invasive grasses that exacerbate wildfires, displaces wildlife, destroys habitat, and pollutes clean water. Despite being only four percent of livestock production in this nation, livestock grazing is pervasive on nearly 250 million acres of our public lands. The Forest Service is clandestinely restocking vacant grazing allotments with cattle, including in roadless areas and Wilderness, without public knowledge or participation. Restricting motorized and mechanized use in our inventoried roadless areas. Research shows that motorized and mechanized access (on roads, trails, or over the snow) harm wildlife, from elk to grizzly bears. Extend the provisions of this strengthened national rule to Idaho and Colorado, which currently have less protective rules. Thank you