“SAMPLE LETTER I am writing in opposition to the proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule…”

SAMPLE LETTER I am writing in opposition to the proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule [FS-2025-0001]. For nearly 25 years this rule has reliably protected backcountry habitat, clean headwaters, and quiet recreation areas from industrial road-building and commercial extraction, and it should remain in place. These roadless landscapes matter for practical reasons, not just scenic ones. They provide unbroken habitat corridors that wide-ranging species like wolverine and lynx depend on to move and persist. They protect the cold, clean headwaters that downstream communities and fisheries rely on. Washington alone holds more than 2 million roadless acres across the Cascades, Kettles, Selkirks, Olympics and Blue Mountains. These are landscapes that also support hunting, fishing, and other backcountry traditions. Rolling back this rule would mean more roads cut into fragile terrain, more fragmented and degraded habitat, and diminished water quality downstream. It would also raise fire risk rather than lower it: most wildfire ignitions are human-caused, and more roads into these areas means more opportunity for fire starts in these ecologically important lands. Meanwhile, the Forest Service is already unable to keep up with maintenance on the roads it has; adding thousands of new miles would only deepen that backlog. Undoing this rule would do generational damage to our natural heritage and put at risk a conservation legacy that benefits all Americans. I urge you to conserve our nation’s roadless forests and keep the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place. Sincerely, Devin P.