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To the Department of Agriculture:
I am a recent graduate from the University of Montana who has recreated in the Rattlesnake wilderness since I arrived here for college. The Rattlesnake is a place of peace, community, exploration, clean water, and clean air. Public, connected lands have mattered to my family for generations as I come from a long line of recreationists, hunters, anglers, and outdoorspeople. The Roadless Rule keeps these places intact and I want my children to see them that way. Please defend the Roadless Rule.
My friends and I would walk in the Rattlesnake after long, stressful days or to celebrate birthdays in the outdoors! This place is very special to us. We want to see this area prosper, not die.
If this rule is rescinded, I lose peace, connection to the natural world, and a legacy of enjoying intact public lands. I lose clean air, clean water, and space in which to get away from everyday life as I knew it before. Nature is inextricably linked to human wellbeing and fracturing it hurts us, too.
Regarding the Rattlesnake in the Lolo National Forest, Montana:
Intact roadless landscapes support functional soils, hydrology, and food webs that fragmented forests cannot replicate.
Intact forests provide ecosystem services that fragmented ones cannot. Primary forests with the least disturbance history have the highest carbon storage, the highest ecosystem-process levels, greater stability and recovery, and the lowest risk of loss. Connectivity, biodiversity, and microclimate buffering combine to give intact forests greater adaptive capacity in a changing climate (Rogers et al. 2022). — Rogers et al., 2022 (https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.929281)
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the Rattlesnake, Lolo National Forest 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.
Roadless areas mean the future health of our planet. You play a role in that future. Please consider your legacy when making this decision. Young people today and children not yet born will wonder why you didn't defend the lands that the American People prize so greatly; our whole, intact ecosystems. They will wonder why they choke on poor air and why their water is no longer safe to drink. They will wonder where their parents recreated, since the stories of whole ecosystems will no longer be applicable if the Roadless Rule is lost. Defending public lands is a service to the country and to the world. Please take that service seriously.
Roadless means roadless. Honor that.