Every public comment on the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule, sorted by what it talks about. Pick a topic, then narrow by position, by how hard the comment is for the agency to set aside, or by how substantive it is. Each comment is shown in full, as filed. How comments are classified and scored is explained in the Comment Analysis.
1,292 unique comments1,338 submissions
Position
Opposes rescission 67.3%
Supports rescission 31.8%
Neutral / unclear 0.9%
Answerability
A1 strong 3
A2 moderate 2
A3 weak 3
A0 none 432
Substance /24
Median 2middle half 1–3 · 440 scored
Raised alongside it
Count
Position
Answerability
Substance /24
Order
1,292 unique comments on Public Land Access Rights· showing 1–20Clear all filters
With respect to the Special Areas Roadless Area Conservation, do not pass this bill. There is a reason that we had to pass a bill protecting our areas before. WHY would we want to reverse and let companies who are out for profit destroy our forested area. The land belongs to the people! Keep industry, corportations and individuals from using up our lands. If we can not learn from the past we will be doomed to repeat it. The benefit from protecting our forests out weighs ANY monitary benefits just to satify the stockholders. Our country lost our forests before and after protecting the land it is now beautiful and benefitial to everyone
Our public wild lands and open spaces are what make the United States unique in the world - no other country can match either the beauty nor quantity of America’s public land. Removal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule will jeopardize the beauty and health of 58 million acres of national forest - land that belongs to the American people, land that has been set aside for our enjoyment of its beauty rather than to exploit, pillage, and profit from. Any threat to our public lands is a threat to the American public. Removal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule will be a direct and severe blow to the one thing making us great in this world. THIS LAND IS OUR LAND!!!
I strongly opposed the rollback of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This will do permanent damage to ecosystems and people! The special things about our national forest (like the white mountains in New England), is that they are wild public lands. Do not steal that away from the American people.
In our area countless previously utilized roads have been closed. Roads that we as a family utilized for hunting and outdoor adventures.
About 17 yrs ago I went through a major hip joint reconstruction surgery. Being too young for a replacement the reshaping and resurfacing of everything in and around the hip joint was my only choice. It was an extreme surgery and healing did not come easily. Complications occurred as my body reacted very negatively to hardware that was to remain in the bone for a year.
While only supposed to be on crutches for 6 weeks, it turned into 6 mos. I became disabled Which included our favorite family time, deer hunting season.
Since I couldn't walk I was strictly limited to road hunting from the Jeep. Many of the roads we utilized to access areas for my hunting are now closed off.
The areas I accessed while temporarily disabled are no longer available to those who also may experience some type of temporary or permanent disability preventing them from hiking.
I am one hundred percent in favor of reopening the roads that have been closed. One hundred in favor of re-establishing access to firefighters.
Protect public access and our national treasures from over-development by the few for the profit of the few. Protect the roadless rule and its preclusions.
My family and I have spent countless hours on our public lands all over the Western US. I can tell you from first hand experience, that there are no shortage of existing roadways or means of access to this resource. In fact, many places I have explored in California, Oregon, Idaho and elsewhere I am surprised by the number of roads in a given area that appear to serve no purpose. Many of these existing routes are in disrepair and are either in the process of being abandoned or at least show very little use by anyone. My point here is that we have plenty of roadways on public land and it seems hard to understand why more are needed. It is an obvious fact that by changing the roadless rule the public will be spending more money and negatively impacting wildlife habitat among other undesirable things. Please do not change or rescind the roadless rule!
This change to an effective and longstanding policy is a naked attempt to allow access by commercial interests, developers, miners, and others with an interest in breaking down public land rights and protections.
Please take notice of the wide variety of groups and individuals opposing this proposed rule. Hunters, Anglers, campers, hikers, conservationists, Native peoples, and voters who are well aware of who and why this attack on public lands is occurring. The time to take a stand is now, before even more damage is done. (see the new mining claims on the former Bears' Ears National Monument.
Exact copy — Byte-identical to another submission. This comment stands for all 2 submissions in its group.
Please do not repeal or override the roadless rule in areas of natural and protected lands in Colorado. We do not want greater access into these areas for humans to disrupt the delicate and priceless natural environment. Please take my comment seriously and refrain from increased road access in places that need our stewardship and protection.
Sincerely,
Kirsten Burris, 2nd gen. Colorado Native
720-938-6644
Keep our resources balanced!
Do not sell roadless land for a quick buck!
We all need and appreciate having places to go that allow access to all Americans!
The Roadless Rule needs to be permanently rescinded. The actual accessible forest is small in scale to the total forested lands in Alaska and this ongoing debate and struggle needs to just go away to Alaska residents that want better access to our natural resources and recreation. Please do the right thing and eliminate this once and for all
I would like to state my dissatisfaction with the idea of repealing the Roadless Rule. I think our natural areas should remain undeveloped by business, as that is the American peoples land, not theirs.
Alterations to the Roadless Rule would severely impact not just every Americans right to public access but would be extremely detrimental to the conservation of our collective public lands and environment. There are thousands of miles of existing Forest Service roads and trails which require maintenance they do not receive, adding more roads would only serve to increase the scope of an already prevalent issue. Contrary to claims made by those who promote the slashing of the Roadless Rule, adding more roads on Forest Service land would not increase access to these lands, only eliminate the natural beauty of places which are already accessible. The abolishment of the Roadless Rule is not about increased access and fire prevention as it claims to be, it is about creating new roads which can be used for the purposes of illegal natural resource extraction. Access not for the American people, but for mining, logging, and development corporations who only view the land fiscally. I strongly oppose the rescission of the Roadless Rule.
It is clear that no one in the government cares about the future at all; everything is a short term cash grab. do not fore-sake the importance of intact ecosystems, they are the only things protecting humanity from itself. keep the roadless rule in place, defend our public lands and the creatures who rely upon them!!!
The roadless rule should remain intact in its current form. National forests are incredibly important for our national identity. Removing the roadless rule would not only hurt the environment but also would remove the gift that preserving national forests for future generations is. Stop trying to destroy our public land!
It's imperative to keep large areas of untouched lands to preserve for future generations of both people and wildlife. These are also important areas for tourism and recreation. These areas need to remain road free, phone line and cable free and be untouched from human altering. This is a proud part of the USA and adds to our unique beauty. Thank you.
I am a citizen of a small town near the Sierra Nevadas. It’s important that we continue to restrict local entities from constructing roads through public land without the consent of the people and their government. Please continue to uphold the previous legislation and do not surrender our public resources to private entities.
I support the repeal of the roadless rule. Accessing our public lands is part of the name public. When restriction make the barrier to access the lands that we reserved for ourselves effectively become locked away. I'm not asking for clear cutting, and roads on every slope, but ways that allow more people greater opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors
Exact copy — Byte-identical to another submission. This comment stands for all 2 submissions in its group.