Read the comments.

Docket ID: FS-2025-0001 Title: Comment on the Proposed Rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule Dear Secretary Vilsack and U.S. Forest Service Leadership, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the USDA’s proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Having grown up in Maine, with family in Bethel, and now living in Washington state, I have a deep, lifelong connection to the national forests on both sides of our country. I have witnessed firsthand how critical intact, unfragmented forests are to the environmental and economic health of local communities. Undeveloped forests are irreplaceable. This proposed rollback threatens to fragment these last remaining wild spaces, which are essential for several reasons: - Wildlife Habitat: Roadless areas provide vital, undisturbed sanctuaries and migration corridors for imperiled species—from the American marten in the White Mountain National Forest to the salmon, elk, and grizzly bears of the Pacific Northwest. - Water Quality: These protected lands safeguard the pristine headwaters and watersheds that supply clean drinking water to millions of citizens, including roughly half a million people in Washington state alone. - Ecological Integrity: Building new roads opens the door to industrial commercial logging and mining, which permanently degrades ecosystems, introduces invasive species, and paradoxically increases human-caused wildfire risks. The 2001 Roadless Rule has successfully protected these public lands for a quarter of a century. Stripping away federal protections and shifting management to a piecemeal, forest-by-forest approach will dismantle the unfragmented ecological areas that our wildlife and communities depend on. I urge the USDA and the Forest Service to withdraw this proposal and maintain the 2001 Roadless Rule to preserve these irreplaceable wild lands for generations to come. Sincerely, Justine Owen Eastsound, WA 98245