To the Roadless Rule Rulemaking Docket:
As a rural resident, I address the Department on the record and assert that the administrative rationale advanced in support of the proposed rescission does not meet the standard of reasoned decision-making required of an agency that has represented, across administrations, a commitment to watershed protection on National Forest lands.
Regarding the South Mills River in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina:
Ground disturbance, sedimentation, and stream crossings in roadless areas degrade drinking-water supplies and aquatic habitat downstream.
Freshwater extinction risk. Aquatic species face disproportionate extinction risk globally. A multi-taxon assessment of 23,496 freshwater species found that 24% are threatened with extinction, driven primarily by pollution, habitat fragmentation, and sediment loading from upstream disturbance (Sayer et al. 2025). — Sayer et al., 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08375-z)
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the South Mills River, Pisgah 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.
I am extremely concerned about the harmful effects road building in the Roadless Area would have on the source of my community’s drinking water supply.
The U.S. National Forests are the headwaters of our great rivers and the largest source of municipal water supply in the nation. According to DellaSala (2011), national forests supply drinking water to at least 124 million people in more than 3,400 communities across 33 states—roughly a third of all national-forest runoff originates in inventoried roadless areas. Roads are a major cause of water pollution: erosion rates from logging roads have been documented as much as 850% higher than from undisturbed forest. Because the 2001 Roadless Rule protects these headwaters, it is vital for maintaining clean drinking water for communities across the country. Major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, and Atlanta receive a significant portion of their water supply from national forests.
I'm against this. Keep the Rule in place.
Yours truly,
CommentID: RLC-20260925-UDMZQM