Comment Analysis · Docket FS-2025-0001

FS-2025-0001-259898

Opposes rescissionA1 strongSubstance 11/24Owed an answerPosted August 23, 2026 On Regulations.gov

In short: The comment establishes that the proposed rule contains internal inconsistencies in its Regulatory Flexibility Act certification and federalism analysis, fails to support its wildfire rationale with its own data, omits required analysis of reliance interests and NEPA alternatives, and provides an insufficient comment period for a 44.7-million-acre rulemaking.

Scored directly — The comment's whole text was scored on its own.

Scorecard

Each dimension is scored 0–3; the eight sum to the substance score out of 24.

Specific placeNames a specific location — from a region down to an exact creek, trail, road, or map reference.
Local knowledgeDraws on a first-hand connection to the place — visits, sustained activity, occupation, or a professional role.
EA analysisEngages the agency's environmental analysis directly.
Analytical gapIdentifies something the analysis fails to address.
EvidenceBacks claims with specific facts, data, or research.
RequestMakes a specific, actionable request of the agency.
AlternativeProposes a different course of action.
LegalCites statutes, regulations, or legal obligations.

How hard it is to set aside

A1 strong: Must be answered — it names the law.

Owed an answer on Analytical gap, Legal.

Standard dismissals it defeats

Already addressed The agency says its analysis already covers the point. Defeated when the comment cites the law itself: there is no analysis to cite against a statutory claim.
No cause and effect shown The agency says the comment asserts a harm without showing how the action causes it. Defeated when the comment shows the mechanism.
Certified not substantive The agency certifies the comment raises nothing substantive. Defeated when the comment alleges illegality, which is substantive by the definition the certification runs on.

Still open to the agency

Alternative already eliminated The agency says it considered and eliminated the alternative the comment proposes, with a reason. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Deferred to a later decision The agency says the point belongs to a later, site-specific decision. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Misreads the proposal The agency says the comment misunderstands what is proposed. Defeated when the comment engages the proposal or a named place directly.
Not required The agency says the analysis the comment asks for is not required. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Preference noted The agency notes the comment as a statement of preference and takes no action on it. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Outside the scope The agency says the comment asks about a different action. Defeated when the comment is specific and tied to this proposal.

Topics

Legal Regulatory Framework
- “Regulatory Flexibility Act certification is inconsistent”
- “federalism determination contradicts the preemption statement”
- “Reliance interests are not analyzed”
- “range of alternatives appears inadequate under NEPA”
Forest Management Wildfire
- “wildfire rationale is not supported by the Department's own figures”
- “existing rule already permits cutting generally small diameter timber to maintain or restore ecosystem composition”
- “reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects”
- “greater access can increase human-caused ignition potential”
Governance Policy Process
- “Thirty days is not a meaningful opportunity to comment”
- “I request an extension to at least 90 days”
- “I request a response to each in the Final EIS”
- “I urge selection of the No Action alternative”
Economic Impact Fiscal
- “estimates $6.1 million in annual lost economic benefit to recreationists”
- “total additional impacts could exceed $100 million”
- “Outfitters, guides, lodges, and rural recreation businesses are overwhelmingly small entities”
- “Loss of the resource a business depends on is an economic impact”

What it names

Law cited: 36 CFR 294.13 36 CFR 294.13(b)(1)5 U.S.C. 601 5 U.S.C. 603 5 U.S.C. 605 556 U.S. 502 556 U.S. 502 591 U.S. 1 E.O. 13132

The comment

Shaded passages are the ones the analysis quoted as evidence for a dimension: Analytical gapEvidenceLegal

I oppose the proposed rescission. My objections concern specific deficiencies in the proposed rule, the Draft EIS, and the cost-benefit analysis. I request a response to each in the Final EIS. 1. The Regulatory Flexibility Act certification is inconsistent with the Department's own analysis. USDA certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (91 FR 53831). In the same document it estimates $6.1 million in annual lost economic benefit to recreationists, states that recreation and tourism could experience trade-offs, and acknowledges total additional impacts could exceed $100 million (91 FR 53830). Outfitters, guides, lodges, and rural recreation businesses are overwhelmingly small entities under 5 U.S.C. 601(6). A certification under 5 U.S.C. 605(b) cannot rest on the absence of compliance obligations when the agency has separately quantified losses concentrated in a small-entity sector. Loss of the resource a business depends on is an economic impact. I request that the certification be withdrawn and an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis prepared under 5 U.S.C. 603. 2. The federalism determination contradicts the preemption statement in the same document. USDA finds no federalism implications under E.O. 13132 (91 FR 53831), then states under Civil Justice Reform that upon publication all State and local laws and regulations that conflict with the proposed rule or that impede its full implementation would be preempted (91 FR 53832). A rule that preempts conflicting state and local law by its own terms has substantial direct effects on the States. This inconsistency should be resolved on the record before a final rule issues. 3. The wildfire rationale is not supported by the Department's own figures. Only 4.8 million acres, 16 percent of forested inventoried roadless area, are estimated to be operable for timber harvest, and USDA concedes a $6.9 billion deferred road maintenance backlog constrains activity (91 FR 53829). The existing rule already permits cutting generally small diameter timber to maintain or restore ecosystem composition and structure, expressly including reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects, under 36 CFR 294.13(b)(1). Small-diameter material is precisely what hazardous-fuels reduction targets, and prescribed fire is not restricted at all. If the binding constraints are funding, workforce, and operability, rescission does not address the stated need. I request that the Final EIS disclose how many proposed hazardous-fuels projects in inventoried roadless areas since 2001 were denied, withdrawn, or materially modified because of 36 CFR 294.13, as distinct from budget or capacity limits. The preamble also concedes that greater access can increase human-caused ignition potential (91 FR 53829) without quantifying it or netting it against the claimed benefit. 4. Reliance interests are not analyzed. The preamble invites comment on reliance interests (91 FR 53830), and an agency reversing a longstanding policy must address the serious reliance the prior policy engendered. FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502, 515 (2009); DHS v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 591 U.S. 1, 30 (2020). The Final EIS must address municipal and rural water systems whose source-water planning assumes undeveloped headwaters; recreation businesses that invested in unroaded settings; state wildlife agencies whose habitat and migration-corridor investments assumed a roadless baseline; Tribal governments; and Endangered Species Act consultations that treated roadless conditions as part of the environmental baseline. Stating that near-term effects are bounded by existing plan direction is a prediction about timing, not an analysis of reliance. 5. The range of alternatives appears inadequate under NEPA. Tribes requested a strengthened roadless alternative and a Traditional Homelands Conservation Rule during scoping (91 FR 53832). If these were not analyzed in detail, reasonable alternatives raised in scoping have been excluded. Intermediate options that would serve the stated purpose with less environmental effect also warrant detailed analysis, including broadening the existing 294.13(b) exception near the wildland-urban interface, or a state-petition pathway modeled on the Idaho and Colorado subparts. 6. Thirty days is not a meaningful opportunity to comment on a multi-volume Draft EIS, cost-benefit analysis, and Tribal impact statement covering 44.7 million acres. I request an extension to at least 90 days. I urge selection of the No Action alternative.