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Opposition to the Proposed Rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Docket FS-2025-0001) Dear Forest Service Officials, I am a resident of Driggs, ID and someone who frequently recreates on public land, mostly in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness and Caribou-Targhee National Forest. I am writing to strongly oppose the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. For a quarter of a century, this rule has successfully protected roughly 45 million acres of pristine national forest lands from commercial logging and new road construction. I am concerned about the impact that new roads will have on the ecosystems that so many species depends on. I think it is short-sighted and dangerous to rescind safeguards that threaten vital public resources: • Clean Water: Roadless national forests act as natural filtration systems, supplying clean drinking water to more than 60 million Americans across thousands of communities. • Wildlife Habitat: These untouched landscapes provide critical corridors and refuges for hundreds of at-risk and imperiled species. • Climate and Recreation Resilience: Intact forests sequester carbon effectively and support robust local outdoor recreation economies. Furthermore, the justification that removing protections improves wildfire management is flawed and contradicted by existing science and maintenance backlog realities. Instead of opening these wild public lands to extractive industries, the agency should focus its capacity on maintaining existing infrastructure and prioritizing community safety. Furthermore, the economic vitality of my small tourist community hinges on the protection of these pristine places. To jeapordize them for the interests of commercial logging could have negative impacts on the economy of my small town. I urge the Forest Service to withdraw this repeal and maintain full protections for our roadless national forests. Sincerely, Jennifer Piperno Driggs, ID 83422