Dear Secretary Brooke L. Rollins:
In my experience, roadless backcountry is not just scenery — it's functioning habitat, clean water, and quiet. Humanity finds refuge and redemption in wild places. The decision to rescind the roadless rule is one that forever destroys irreplaceable wilderness.
Regarding the Devil's Den 09083 in the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests, Vermont:
Forest plan consistency, multiple-use direction, and how proposed management would alter the roadless character of inventoried areas.
Roadless areas fill gaps the existing protected-area system does not cover. Adding inventoried roadless areas to the U.S. protected-area system would increase representation of underprotected ecosystem types — including temperate grasslands (+57 percent) and cool temperate forests (+52 percent) — and would reduce the number of species of conservation concern considered "poorly represented" by 38 species. Forest plans alone do not provide the cross-forest consistency this network offers (Talty et al. 2020; Dietz et al. 2021). — Talty et al., 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.288); Belote, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.288); Dietz et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01943); UNKNOWN, 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01943)
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the Devil's Den 09083, Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests to road construction and associated ground disturbance. The direct and indirect effects of that activity are precisely what makes a specific comment about this area necessary.
Four generations of our family have hiked and fished and explored the wilderness of the Green Mountains of Vermont. Destroying these areas destroys our history, destroys our ability to enjoy these areas forever.
These lands belong to all of us. The rule that protects them should stay.
Thank you,
CommentID: RLC-20261005-VPYTWC