“The Roadless Rule already allows fuel reduction for wildfire”
“removing protection across millions of acres goes far beyond fire management”
What it names
Roadless areas
Craggy MountainLaurel MountainSouth Mills River
The comment
Helene hit us harder than almost anywhere, and two years later we're still among the least recovered. The creek on my land is still full of debris and its banks are severely washed out. I look at that every day. I know what happens when steep mountain slopes and waterways are damaged, and I don't want to see it happen to our public forests. Opening steep, storm-damaged slopes in the Black Mountains and across Pisgah to new roads and logging means more landslides, more sediment, and more destruction when the next storm comes.
The headwaters of the South Mills River supply drinking water to 80,000 Henderson County residents. Protecting that watershed is the cheapest water treatment there is. The Roadless Rule already allows fuel reduction for wildfire, so removing protection across millions of acres goes far beyond fire management.
These forests are the last public places we have left to heal and be in nature. Don't let my home, my neighbors' homes, and those places be damaged any further. Keep the Roadless Rule, and keep the South Mills River headwaters, Laurel Mountain, Craggy Mountain, and the Black Mountains protected.
Gina Tines
Chimney Rock area, NC