Subject: Public Comment: Oppose the Rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Docket FS-2025-0001)
Dear Secretary Rollins and U.S. Forest Service Officials,
I am writing as a citizen who lives near the Colville National Forest in Washington State. I'd like to register my opposition to the proposal to weaken the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. I urge the Forest Service to keep these critical protections intact.
The Colville National Forest has over 4,000 miles of existing roads. This extensive road network already provides sufficient motorized access for recreation, resource management, and community needs. The Forest Service maintains a multi-billion dollar backlog in road maintenance. To add more miles of roads to manage is fiscally irresponsible.
The roadless areas across the Colville National Forest are irreplaceable. They serve important functions such as,
•Providing safe habitat and migration corridors or wildlife.
•Maintaining water quality by filtering rainwater and ensuring clean, high-quality drinking water for our communities. Road construction can choke mountain streams with sediment and degrade water systems.
•Protecting old growth forests, which provide habitat, quiet spaces to visit, sacred indigenous sites, and are less fire prone.
Opening these last wild places to commercial logging, mining, and road-building would elevate human-caused wildfire risks. Data shows that wildfires are significantly more likely to ignite near road corridors.
Please preserve the integrity of Washington's public lands. Do not strip protections from the roadless areas that keep the Colville National Forest healthy, wild, and resilient.
Sincerely,
Heidi Lasher
4402 S Eastern Rd
Spokane WA 99223