Dear Secretary Rollins:
In my experience as an outdoor enthusiast who has used roadless national forest as a recreational and restorative resource for many years, I have come to regard the 2001 Rule as one of the few administrative instruments capable of holding the line against the gradual conversion of interior forest to roaded and managed landscape.
As an outdoor enthusiast hailing from a long family history of depending on ecosystem health for our livelihood, I care deeply about the preservation of the land, watersheds, and threatened and endangered species through the Roadless Rule. I am impacted by the proposed rescission because I spend much of my time camping and hiking on these lands, and many in my community and beyond depend on unpolluted watersheds and species protection made possible by the Roadless Rule.
In early 2026, I was fortunate enough to camp in the Hiawatha National Forest, away from roads and development and among bald eagles, sandhill cranes, and cedar and aspen groves. Despite the bugs, the grandeur of the forest was arresting, its timelessness a symbol of American fortitude and our ecological history and beauty. For much of the wildlife in this region, though, the Hiawatha National Forest is the last frontier. Rescission of the Roadless Rule to allow for incursion and commercial development would fragment the few remaining wildlife corridors for the beavers, bobcats, cranes, etc., and put the entire ecosystem at risk.
Regarding the Fibre in the Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan:
Without Roadless Rule protections, the Fibre IRA in Hiawatha National Forest loses the safeguard that maintains its Great Lakes Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp (42.3%, ~3,141 acres) as functioning climate refugia. Northern Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis, G2, E) faces 11 - Climate change & severe weather at Pervasive (71-100%) scope; rescission exposes this species to the full force of that threat by enabling degradation of its refugia habitat.
"Stream animals can survive periods of stressfully warm temperatures provided there are adequate and well-connected thermal refuges. System-wide, the median spacing between cool patches suitable for Pacific salmon was 21.3 km (interquartile range: 5.7 to 49.4 km). Under warmer climate scenarios, previously long cool patches may be broken into a series of smaller patches, and closely spaced cool patches tended to occur farther upstream. These distances may exceed movement capabilities for stream biota other than salmon."
— PMC / Aquatic Sciences, 2018
The documented 11 - Climate change & severe weather facing Northern Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) demands intact refugia, not degraded habitat. Road construction in the Fibre IRA does not merely remove trees — it dismantles the microclimate moderation, hydrological stability, and habitat continuity that constitute the refugia function of Great Lakes Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp.
Rescission of the Roadless Rule, despite what you argue, Secretary Rollins, would not bring 'health and productivity' to America's forests. American forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems protected by this rule are already under extreme duress from climate change and development. Putting further strain on these fragile ecosystems by opening up the millions of acres to road construction only exacerbates this issue. As any outdoor enthusiast like myself understands, human presence in a forest is a sacred responsibility, especially given that more than 80% of wild land blazes are caused by human activity. If the Roadless Rule were rescinded, a single stray cigarette butt or car engine left running on new roads could ignite these whole forests. The costs outweigh the benefits; undoing the Rule is unwise. Millions of peoples' livelihoods are at stake.
Thank you,
Jonathan Cartwright