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Dear Secretary Rollins, I am writing to oppose the USDA’s proposal to fully or partially rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. I have lived in western Oregon since 1962, when my parents moved our family of six from Michigan to Portland, Oregon. We spent our summer vacations camping in our coastal public forests, in the Oregon Dunes, the Siuslaw National Forest, and the Willamette National Forest, all buffered and protected by adjacent roadless areas. The roadless areas and wilderness areas of Oregon are our crown jewels of protection for wildlife habitat, for clean drinking water, for a healthy water table, for nutrient-rich soils, for cooler air temperatures, for Tribal sacred and archaeological site protection, and for the recreation economy worth millions of dollars a year. The rapid warming of our planet now dramatically affects Oregon’s weather, where summers are hotter and dryer than in previous decades. Adding roads and increasing logging will only ruin the climate advantages our roadless lands give us. Every mile of additional roads and every acre of mature forests that are logged will increase temperatures and drought conditions even more, creating a spiral of climate destabilization. We can’t afford to turn over the guardianship of our public lands to those whose only motive is to make profits on the extraction of trees, minerals, or even water– most of the money going to the timber and mining companies, not the communities who will suffer from water quality degradation, increased fire danger, and where complex forest ecosystems used to stand, the view of clearcuts instead. For the many reasons I have listed above, fully or partially rescinding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule would be a grave mistake, not just in Oregon, but across the country in all of the remaining 45 million acres of roadless public lands. We need to preserve our irreplaceable roadless public lands for a stable climate future and for the benefit and pleasure of generations to come. Sincerely, Sid Baum Eugene, OR 97405-9710 sid.baum@gmail.com

Dear Secretary Rollins, Please do NOT eliminate the Roadless Rule. I strongly oppose the USDA’s proposal to eliminate or weaken the Roadless Rule. This reckless action would devastate public lands, waste taxpayer resources, and undermine the water, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities on which millions of Americans depend. I regularly hike on trails in Willamette National Forest some of which pass through roadless areas. Roadless forests represent some of the most intact, resilient ecosystems left in our country. They filter and store clean drinking water, provide refuge for vulnerable species, and serve as critical carbon sinks critical to mitigating the worsening impacts of climate change. I do find solace in these remote places. Roads spread invasive species, fragment wildlife habitat, and erode the very ecological resilience we need in the face of a warming climate. More roads in the backcountry also mean more fires: research shows wildfires are more likely to ignite near roads. Once roads and clearcuts fragment these landscapes, the damage is permanent. Weakening or repealing the Roadless Rule would be a grave mistake. I do not support any of the proposed action alternatives that roll back the Roadless Rule. I urge the USDA to abandon this misguided effort and instead strengthen its commitment to protecting America’s roadless forests for the clean water, climate resilience, recreation, and biodiversity they provide. Leave the Roadless Rule in place. References: Aplet, G.H., Hartger, P. & Dietz, M.S. Three-decade record of contiguous-U.S. national forest wildfires indicates increased density of ignitions near roads. fire ecol 22, 8 (2026) https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-026-00450-2 Mildrexler, D.J., Berner, L.T., Law, B.E. & Both, M.S. Roadless rule rescission threatens highest integrity forest ecosystems in the United States. Biological Conservation 321, 111950 (2026) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111950 Sincerely, Hilary Dearborn Eugene, OR 97405-3990 hcdearborn@gmail.com