Earthjustice

I oppose the Trump administration’s plans to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The roadless areas in our national forests are an American treasure. For a quarter century, the Roadless Rule has protected them from roadbuilding and logging, preserving irreplaceable wildlife habitats, sources of clean water, and recreation areas for future generations. The Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule threatens all these benefits. This rollback would harm forests like the Tongass National Forest, where the Roadless Rule protects over 9 million acres of the 17-million-acre forest from industrial logging and damaging roadbuilding.     Although the proposed repeal is being justified in part as a wildfire-prevention measure, peer-reviewed evidence shows that increasing roadbuilding will only increase wildfires. More than 80% of wildfires occur within 800 meters of roads, according to recent research.  In addition, increasing timber production means cutting down bigger, old trees, which are the most resilient to wildfire. Once an old-growth tree is cut and sold, it will take hundreds of years to replace it, and even longer for ecosystems to heal following clearcutting. Since older trees absorb and store more carbon than their younger counterparts, it is especially important that we keep these forests standing right now while we have the greatest ability to mitigate climate change.    Forests are not a crop to be used to line the pockets of industry executives. They sustain fish, birds, wildlife, and people; filter drinking water; provide recreational opportunities; and absorb and store carbon, helping us to fight climate change. Carving up these forests with roads and logging means we lose those benefits. These lands belong to all Americans, not the timber industry. The pristine lands protected by the Roadless Rule provide an extraordinary landscape for numerous backcountry recreation activities; sustain sensitive fish, bird and wildlife species that need these intact ecosystems to survive; provide subsistence to Tribes; and provide clean, clear drinking water for communities. Without protection for these roadless lands, all of those benefits will be jeopardized. I urge you to keep the Roadless Rule in place and protect our forests. please my generation is the future of this world and you’re continuing to destroy what little there is left.. this world is too beautiful to be subjected to such horrible things and you’re destroying eco systems and the world in pursuit of what? money? you’re not immortal that money will one day mean nothing but this earth will outlast you by lifetimes why must you keep torturing it? why are we so entitled to harm what nurtures us?? i stay up every night crying about such things im so sick of watching this planet be destroying to watch extinctions of animals to watch them lose their homes and be so negatively impacted just cause you’re selfish. you won’t read this nor will you care i bet, but what you are doing is so horrible and i need you to recognize you are ruining this beautiful planet and giving nothing left to work with. i can’t remember the last time i saw a wild animal not being hurt by the reach of humanity, all iv seen are the carcasses of animals suffering from our actions and taking our consequences. why do we believe their lives mean any less simply because it’s an animal? i can rave and rant but could it ever make a difference in the people destroying it so consumed by wealth and greed? such a disgusting thing and push back my views cause i’m young, label me as naive that doesn’t make me any less right that the only people that want this are greedy old disgusting money hungry pigs like you. i hope you’re ashamed of the world you’re creating. i hope you hate yourself. i hope all that greed in your heart eats you alive cause all you do is harm and i feel it’s time someone returns the favor or at the least attempts to fix all the damage you people do. Sincerely, layla nickerson Centralia, WA