I am a college student in Washington state passionate about maintaining and conserving public lands for their intrinsic value. I strongly urge you not to repeal the Roadless Rule. As the original Roadless Rule identified, some characteristics of roadless areas include diversity of plant and animal communities, undisturbed soil, water, and air, and habitat for a range of sensitive species who depend on undisturbed land (USDA Forest Service, 2026). These variables are incredibly important to me, and more importantly, they are incredibly important to the species who reside in them.
Roadless areas are home to over 77 bird species of conservation concern (National Audubon Society, 2026), something I care about very much. As a board member of my local Audubon Society chapter, I have worked hard to advocate for birds and their habitat. This Roadless Rule recission is set up to do the exact opposite. The Forest Service should be focusing on how roadless areas can be best managed for habitat improvement and wildfire mitigation, rather than highlighting its extrinsic value by road-building and timber harvesting.
I do agree that management of these forests can be left up to local decision-makers, but I think the national protections should stay in place. “In Executive Order 14225 ... the President declared that ‘the United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources.’” The timber resources may be able to be put to use by humans, but they are not ours to take. These public lands are one thing that makes our nation so special. We must protect them.