Dear Secretary Brooke L. Rollins,
In my experience as a resident of Skagit County, the nearby roadless country is not just scenery — it's functioning habitat, clean water, and quiet. All of it tied to one condition.
The City of Anacortes draws its drinking water from the Skagit
River, the largest river system flowing into Puget
Sound. Pressentin's roadless areas are very criticial to the watershed's health. We also eat and fish salmon frequently, and we will be harmed by salmon habitat loss. Lastly, when the Skagit floods, our insurance rates go up.
Regarding some specific issues and research that should be addressed in Pressentin in the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington:
Communities downstream of the Pressentin IRA, Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, receive clean water because this watershed has no roads. Municipal water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and recreational fisheries all depend on the sediment-free, thermally stable flows that the roadless condition delivers. Road construction transfers the cost of degraded water quality to every downstream user.
Roads built in the Pressentin IRA, Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, would remove riparian canopy at every stream crossing, exposing channels to direct solar radiation. Stream temperatures rise measurably at these points. For cold-water aquatic species, temperature increases of even 1–2°C alter dissolved oxygen concentrations, metabolic rates, and competitive dynamics. The effect is cumulative across multiple crossings within a watershed.
The DEIS must evaluate the cumulative effects of road construction in the Pressentin IRA, Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, on downstream water users, including changes to turbidity, temperature, and flow regime. The analysis must include the cost of increased water treatment required by downstream municipalities and the economic impact on downstream fisheries and recreation.
"Erosion on roads is an important source of fine-grained sediment in streams draining logged basins of the Pacific Northwest. A heavily used road segment in the field area contributes 130 times as much sediment as an abandoned road. A paved road segment, along which cut slopes and ditches are the only sources of sediment, yields less than 1% as much sediment as a heavily used road with a gravel surface."
— Water Resources Research (AGU/Wiley), 1984
I don't want to see these areas opened up. Keep the Rule.
With respect,