I am writing to urge the U.S. Forest Service to keep the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place and reject the proposal to rescind it.
My family and I backpack around Shealor Lakes in the Eldorado National Forest. It is where my children slept in a tent under the stars for the first time, swam in cold granite lakes, and learned to carry what they need on their backs and leave no trace. The Roadless Rule protects that area from road building, logging, mining and drilling. Places like it are rare, and they become rarer every time a protection is lifted.
I am also a small organic farmer in Santa Clara County, and like every farmer in California, I depend on healthy Sierra Nevada watersheds. Roadless forests protect the headwaters that supply clean water to farms and cities downstream. Roads bring erosion, sediment and more human-caused wildfire starts into these areas. Repealing the rule would put the water and safety of people far beyond the forest boundary at risk.
The Roadless Rule was adopted after one of the largest public comment processes in U.S. history, and it has protected these lands for more than two decades without blocking access for hiking, hunting, fishing or camping. Rolling it back would permanently change places that cannot be restored for our children once roads are cut into them.
Shealor Lakes was handed down to my generation intact by people who chose to protect it. I am asking you to make the same choice for my children's generation. Please keep the 2001 Roadless Rule in full effect.
Sincerely,
Rashmi Bachrach
San Jose, California