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To Whom It May Concern, I strongly oppose the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. I am writing to demand that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service maintain the nationwide protections currently shielding our roadless backcountry areas from industrial exploitation. Over my life, I have had the unique privilege to visit, hike, and deeply enjoy these protected wild areas. I want that exact same opportunity to exist for future generations, but the structural damage being pushed by this administration will create irreversible environmental harms that can never be undone. As someone with a personal stake in the future of northern Arizona, I am submitting this comment to protect the fragile ecosystems surrounding Grand Canyon National Park and the adjacent Kaibab National Forest. The recent compounding tragedies on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon are a stark warning of what happens when we fail to prioritize landscape-scale conservation and watershed protection. In July 2025, the catastrophic Dragon Bravo Fire charred nearly 150,000 acres, destroying the historic Grand Canyon Lodge and leaving a massive, highly vulnerable burn scar across our public lands. This environmental trauma directly precipitated the devastating flash floods in Bright Angel Canyon on August 29. The rapid runoff from the burn scar triggered an influx of mud, rockfalls, and debris that destroyed footbridges, ruptured infrastructure, and tragically claimed human lives - and countless creatures who live in these areas. Despite explicit internal warnings from the park's own trail supervisor—who strongly urged that the North Kaibab Trail remain closed for the 2026 season due to elevated hydrologic risks and unstable trail integrity—the National Park Service and Department of the Interior chose to fully reopen the trail in May. Reopening a primary corridor trail beneath a highly volatile burn scar was a severe oversight in risk management. The agencies should have prioritized structural stabilization and climate-resilient engineering over rushing to clear crowds. Allowing industrial road building and logging under the guise of "flexibility" will only amplify these systemic vulnerabilities. The U.S. Forest Service’s own Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) reveals that repealing the Roadless Rule actually increases the risk of wildfire starts due to increased human activity and heavy equipment access. Industrial logging roads do not stop modern megafires; they invite more points of failure. Furthermore, building roads and cutting timber strips away the vegetative ground cover that slows down torrential monsoonal rains. As seen in Bright Angel Canyon, denuded landscapes cause immediate, lethal debris flows. Strip-mining the roadless protections from the 1.2 million acres currently protected in Arizona will inevitably lead to severe soil erosion into vital municipal and ecological streams. Stripping protections from the Kaibab National Forest also puts the broader Grand Canyon region at immediate risk for expanded commercial extraction, including uranium mining and commercial timber harvesting. Roadless areas serve as a vital buffer zone for wildlife corridors and hikers alike. The federal government must focus its limited funding and personnel on climate-resilient infrastructure and emergency systems for existing trails, rather than opening untouched backcountry lands to commercial exploitation. The shortsighted policy changes driven by the current administration risk permanently breaking the ecological trust meant for our children. These are public lands that should not be for sale to the highest bidder!!! For these reasons, I urge the agency to select the No Action Alternative and retain the 2001 Roadless Rule in its entirety. Sincerely, Kimberly Carpenter - Hiker, Nature Lover, Tax Payer! Phoenix, AZ 85044