“I strongly oppose the U.S. Forest Service's proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001…”

I strongly oppose the U.S. Forest Service's proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule). I urge you to maintain the 2001 Roadless Rule and to withdraw the current proposed rule. Roadless areas are among our National Forest System's most important remaining intact landscapes. These landscapes support healthy headwaters and drinking-water sources, provide secure areas for elk, deer, and other big game species and conserve headwaters that sustain native trout and salmon populations and sustain high-quality opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and other forms of outdoor recreation. The Roadless Rule provides an important national baseline for protecting these values from the fragmentation and degradation that can result from new roads and associated development. The Forest Service itself acknowledges that rescinding the rule could adversely affect water quality, fisheries, wildlife, recreation and other roadless values. The Forest Service should address legitimate forest-management challenges--including wildfire risk and forest health--without eliminating durable protections for intact landscapes. The 2001 Roadless Rule already allows for hazardous fuel treatments and other forest management activities, including timber harvest, to improve forest health and to reduce wildfire risk. Rescinding the Roadless Rule would unnecessarily increase the risk of unnecessary road construction, habitat fragmentation and impacts to clean water and fish and wildlife habitat. America's remaining roadless areas are a finite public resource -- I strongly support maintaining protection for these areas. The Forest Service should maintain and strengthen the Roadless Rule, rather than rescind it. Please withdraw the proposed rule and maintain the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.