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Docket ID: FS-2025-0001 / RIN 0596-AD66 Proposed Action: Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation (National Forest System Lands) [1] To the U.S. Forest Service Ecosystem Management Coordination staff, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to completely rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. For a quarter of a century, this rule has successfully preserved 44.7 million acres of our country’s last remaining wild, unroaded public lands. As someone who deeply values America's natural heritage, I frequently visit and cherish our iconic public lands, including Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. While these specific sites are managed under national park protections, their ecological health, scenic integrity, and wilderness value depend entirely on the intact National Forest System lands that border them. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) fails to adequately consider how removing roadless protections from adjacent national forests—such as the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in North Carolina, the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, and the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests in Colorado—will degrade these world-class park landscapes. Specifically, I urge the Forest Service to keep the national Roadless Rule in place for the following reasons: •Impacts on Park Watersheds and Clean Water: Roadless national forests protect the headwaters and critical watersheds that supply clean drinking water to tens of millions of Americans and feed into our national park systems. Allowing new road construction and commercial timber harvesting near park boundaries will drastically increase soil erosion, stream sedimentation, and water degradation, directly threatening delicate aquatic ecosystems like those in the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain regions. •Fragmentation of Crucial Wildlife Corridors: Large mammals, migratory birds, and endangered species do not recognize bureaucratic boundaries. Intact roadless forest areas serve as essential sanctuary buffers and migration corridors connecting to our national parks. Paving new roads and introducing commercial logging equipment right up to park borders will fracture these fragile habitats, isolate wildlife populations, and accelerate biodiversity loss. •Fiscal Irresponsibility and Backlogs: The Forest Service already faces a staggering nationwide road and bridge deferred maintenance backlog of nearly $7 million (or up to $6 billion globally across all infrastructure types). It is fiscally reckless to eliminate a rule to build new, subsidized industrial logging and mining roads when the agency cannot afford to maintain the 370,000+ miles of roads it already manages. Taxpayer dollars should be spent on reducing this massive backlog and restoring existing infrastructure, not expanding it. •Degradation of Recreation and Scenic Values: Millions of people visit the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Smokies, and the Rockies for their unbroken vistas, quiet backcountry recreation, and wild spaces. Industrializing the surrounding national forests with new road networks and clearcuts will fundamentally mar the panoramic views, quiet atmospheres, and outdoor recreation economies that these regions rely on. • The USDA's own DEIS indicates that repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule is likely to cause significant environmental and economic harm to undeveloped backcountry forests, wildlife, and water resources, while offering little to no meaningful reduction in wildfire risk. I urge the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture to reject the total rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule. Please protect our shared public lands, downstream communities, and the wild buffers that keep our national parks whole. Sincerely, Elaine G. Jones 6015 Charing Pl. Charlotte, NC 28211