Tucker T.
9-28-2026
Roadless Rule Repeal
36 CFR Part 294
RIN 0596-AD66
Public Comment
I am opposed to the proposition of the Roadless Rule being repealed. My family has been ranching in Colorado and enjoying the outdoors for four generations, and I am currently studying Wildlife Biology. I spend most of my time outdoors hiking and fishing, as well as hunting. Repealing the Roadless Rule does not benefit the American public as much as having the Rule in effect does. The Repealing of it would allow more logging to take place, which in turn increases the turbidity of the mountain streams where I love to fish. The trout such as cutthroat and others that live in these streams are extremely vulnerable to environmental changes, which would take place with more development of these protected areas.
`In Bighorn National Forest, as well as Shoshone National Forest, there are areas that are designated as inventoried roadless area where construction or reconstruction is not allowed. Recission of the Roadless Rule would allow construction of roads in these areas, which would be allow more sedimentation of the many small streams within the areas.
While the use of management plans by the Forest Service in place of the Roadless Rule may help conservation efforts, there will undoubtedly be more and more developmental efforts, which in turn must be paid for by the American taxpayer. Part of the reason the Roadless Rule was enacted the first place was the monumental cost of road maintenance, and in our current economical state American taxpayers should not have the added burden of even more taxes to upkeep the new developments this repeal will bring. As an American, and one who spends time on the landscape, I oppose this repeal.
The demands of the nation do not say that we need to deface our public land with development. This administration has shown interest in the natural resources of our country that opposes what is best for the public, who own these resources. The federal government holds these resources in trust for the public and is currently not taking the right course of actions with the lands that belong to me and every other American. These actions are not benefiting the wildlife of the American West, and if this rule is repealed there will be consequences resulting in the destruction of even more habitat than has already occurred.
Instead of repealing the Roadless Rule, the US Forest Service should focus on maintaining what roads are already in place. They should implement plans focusing on the wildlife and ecological systems of our public lands, without creating more access points for activities that lead to the degradation of our wild lands that the American West is known for.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/roadless-map-wyoming-high-resolution-fsmrs-072382.pdf