FS-2025-0001-540441

My name is Brad Wilson, Founder of Friends of the Crazy Mountains, a grassroots group based in Wilsall, Montana. I support Alternative 1 — the No Action Alternative for the Roadless Rule. WHY NO ACTION IS THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS The Crazy Mountains are a small, pressured, and ecologically important range. Their high ridges and basins hold the headwaters that sustain our ranches and towns. Roadless slopes provide winter range and migration corridors for elk and other wildlife, cold clean water for native trout, and quiet backcountry that families and visitors rely on. Keeping the Crazies roadless protects the natural character that supports our livelihoods, our outdoor traditions, and the long‑term health of the watershed. Because the Crazies are heavily checkerboarded and already fragmented, the remaining intact public lands are especially vulnerable. Roadless protections are one of the few tools that reliably maintain what’s still whole. Rising development interest, land exchanges, and high‑value land sales are already reshaping the range. Removing roadless safeguards increases subdivision potential and speculative value, accelerating consolidation around public parcels. When private holdings tighten around public land, the public’s practical ability to reach those places diminishes, even when legal rights remain. Rescinding the Roadless Rule doesn’t just change management — it changes ownership patterns. In the Crazies, that means more privatization, more buy‑ups, and fewer places where the public can still walk into a truly wild mountain range. WHY NO ACTION IS THE PRUDENT CHOICE FOR NATIONAL FOREST LANDS Roadless areas across our national forests protect clean water, wildlife habitat, and rural communities in ways that built infrastructure cannot. Intact forests reduce erosion, safeguard drinking and irrigation water, and lower costs for downstream towns and ranches. They maintain the large, undisturbed habitat blocks that wildlife need to migrate, breed, and persist, while avoiding the fragmentation and increased human‑wildlife conflict that new roads bring. Roadless landscapes also support natural fire regimes by limiting human‑caused ignitions and slowing the spread of invasive plants. They sustain low‑impact recreation that fuels local economies without creating expensive, long‑term road maintenance liabilities. Choosing the No Action Alternative preserves these ecological and economic benefits, avoids unnecessary taxpayer expense, and keeps forest management focused on stewardship rather than expanding infrastructure. Please adopt Alternative 1 — No Action — to keep our public forests healthy, connected, and accessible for future generations.