“Please do not rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This rule is integral to maintaining healthy…”

Please do not rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This rule is integral to maintaining healthy wildlife populations and habitat and provides irreplaceable recreation opportunities for Americans. This rule was overwhelmingly popular when it was put in place and remains so today. The Roadless Rule was developed through one of the largest public participation efforts in federal land management history, generating approximately 1.6 million public comments, 99% of which were in support of the rule. Roadless does not mean unmanaged and this current rule does not prohibit hunting, fishing, grazing, recreation, habitat restoration, hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire mitigation, mining, or access to valid existing rights. Adding roads to an already overloaded maintenance backlog does not make fiscal sense and is a bad deal for wildlife and people alike. USFS currently manages approximately 370,000 miles of roads and faces a deferred maintenance backlog of roughly $10.8 billion, with ~55% of that backlog tied to roads alone. The idea that building roads into the backcountry will help with fire suppression is unsupported and in fact will lead to more fires. Keep this rule in place so that future generations of Americans can enjoy the wilds that define our country. I respectfully urge the Forest Service to adopt the no action alternative and keep the 2001 Roadless Rule in place. Don't bulldoze the backcountry. Defend the Roadless Rule.