I am a photographer and a forest landowner.
This email is in opposition of agency's efforts to repeal the Roadless Rule I am a photographer and a forest landowner. I am asking USFS to respond in the record to each of the issues raised in this email.
It is well documented that forests with road access are more likely to burn. We also know that old growth forests are more fire-resilient. Instead of opening new areas to access, the USFS should be addressing the innumerable areas with roads that the USFS is neglecting to manage at all. According to your own fire data, only 23.5% of road miles are used for containment and you have a $6.9B deferred maintenance backlog for these roaded areas.
I know this from personal experience with our property in the Plumas National Forest that was destroyed by the 2019 North Complex Fire. The surrounding forest owned by the Forest Service had been severely neglected despite the easy access by logging roads. When a climate-change induced fire started, the USFS' lack of stewardship exacerbated the situation and contributed to the severity of the fire.
There is no need to open up additional areas of untouched habitat and ecosystems to further human impacts. Clearly before opening new areas to roads you need to take forest stewardship more seriously and need a larger budget to manage the current roaded areas.
The Roadless Rule has been extensively deliberated, is overwhelmingly popular with the public, and must be left in place.
Thank you for scrapping this terrible effort to repeal the Roadless Rule.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bachand
Oakland, CA 94611