Opposes rescissionA0 noneSubstance 6/24Posted August 21, 2026 On Regulations.gov
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To the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
As a citizen who has been attentive to the federal climate record, I submit these comments in opposition to the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a measure whose carbon and watershed contributions are among the few large-scale instruments that remain practically intact in the current period.
Regarding the Sespe - Frazier in the Los Padres National Forest, California:
New road construction, reconstruction, and associated development fragment habitat, introduce disturbance, and eliminate roadless character.
A large share of the U.S. is already road-affected. An estimated 15 to 20 percent of the contiguous United States is ecologically affected by roads, accounting for edge effects, runoff patterns, and downstream disturbance — not just the area of road surface itself. Roughly 80 percent of Earth's terrestrial surface remains roadless, but most of that area is fragmented into patches smaller than 1 square kilometer (Forman & Alexander 1998; Ibisch et al. 2016). — Richard T. T. Forman | Lauren E. Alexander, 1998 · Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.29.1.207)
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the Sespe - Frazier, Los Padres National Forest to road construction and associated ground disturbance. The direct and indirect effects of that activity are precisely what makes a specific comment about this area necessary.
T
Rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is opposed; its retention is respectfully requested.
Best regards,