Subject: Public Comment opposing the rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Docket FS-2025-0001)
To the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture,
I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. As a resident of Park County, Montana, I urge the USDA to select Alternative 1 (No Action) to leave the 2001 Roadless Rule fully intact and protect our public lands.
As someone who cares deeply about the future of Park County, Montana and surrounding public lands, I am concerned about how a rollback would impact the Custer Gallatin National Forest.
Protecting these unfragmented landscapes is essential to me for the following reasons:
Crucial Wildlife Migration Corridors: The roadless wild lands north of Yellowstone National Park serve as a primary corridor for wildlife moving through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Our wildlife species are already under threat from ongoing development in this region, maintaining these roadless areas is critical to allowing them to migrate safely through a connected landscape.
Vital Habitat for Vulnerable and Iconic Species: Roadless areas hold low-elevation forests, wetlands, canyons and other undeveloped lands critical to overall ecological health. With no roads to divide them, these Roadless areas provide unbroken safety for many threatened and iconic species like grizzly bears, wolves and elk.
Our local roadless areas and wildlife populations are deeply important. I regularly spend time in Roadless Areas in Park County and the Custer Gallatin National Forest. On a weekly basis I can be found hiking, skiing and observing wildlife in nearby drainages such as Suce Creek, South Fork of Deep Creek, George Lake, Mill Creek (including Wicked Creek, JoMaHa Creek) as well as the Jardine and Eagle Creek areas north of Gardiner Montana. Maintaining these sanctuaries as roadless is important to me and critical to the wildlife populations that reside and move through these areas.
The Roadless Rule is a proven, forward-thinking policy that protects the fundamental resources of our local communities—our clean water, our economy, and our wildlife. Please abandon the proposal to rescind these protections and uphold Alternative 1 (No Action).
Sincerely,
Melissa Stringham Frady
Livingston, Montana