Glacier MountainMt. JeffersonSilver StarSnake River
The comment
Re: Rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, Docket FS-2025-0001
Please Do Not Rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule,
As a native Oregonian, I grew up hiking and backpacking in our National Forests. My parents shared their love of the outdoors with me and my five siblings, and they taught us to leave those places as untouched as possible so that the people after us would enjoy the same benefits we did.
Mt. Hood National Forest, our closest, is where my husband and I took our children hiking when they were young. Their first backpacking trip, at ages 8 and 13, was to Mt. Jefferson in the Deschutes National Forest. Now grown up, they also spend their spare weekends hiking and backpacking in national forests.
We have hiked and backpacked in many special places: Waldo Lake in the Willamette National Forest, the Snake River in the Wallowas, Mt. Bachelor in the Deschutes, Glacier Mountain in the Malheur, and the Salmon-Huckleberry area near Mt. Hood. In Washington and California, places like Gifford Pinchot, Silver Star Mountain, Eagle in Shasta and the North Cascades near Mt. Baker are part of the same interconnected network. Together, these roadless areas protect our watersheds, wildlife habitat, and old-growth forests, and their value comes from being connected.
Once roads are built, there is no going back. Roads fragment wildlife habitat, increase erosion and sediment in streams that salmon depend on, spread invasive species, and raise wildfire risk and long-term maintenance costs for taxpayers. The Forest Service already cannot afford to maintain the roads it has.
These are special places that we need to save for our children and our children's children. We owe it to the next generations to keep them safe.
The original 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Policy received more than 1.6 million public comments, which was the largest number for any rule in U.S. history at the time. Any changes to it deserves the same consideration and public involvement.
Please do not rescind the Roadless Rule.
Sincerely,
Grace Jeffreys
Portland Oregon