Leave the Roadless Rule intact. As an avid recreational hiker and paddeler, mental health clinician, advocate for wildlife and earth, and former Forest Service employee, I implore you to listen to the 100's of thousands of citizens of this country from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds who have, once again, submitted comments because we were ignored previously and the Roadless Rule is on the chopping block again.
Large, contiguous, wild spaces are necessary for the health of every species on this earth. Clean water, protected watersheds, wildlife corridors, old growth forests, biodiversity, escape from the bombardment of technology, news, and noise. Relief from anxiety, depression, bullying, through connection with the natural world. I have hiked in beautiful roadless areas in the Pacific NW and Desert SW and I have also collected load tickets from asphalt trucks after a timber sale on the Umpqua National Forest. I'll take the majesty of the Olympic Peninsula forests and coastline over decimation of roadless areas for extraction for as long as I live. Once these areas are parceled out, we can never go back. We also know that undisturbed forests are more resilient to wildfire and that human caused wildfires are more prevalent near roads, so using wildfire prevention as justification for opening 58 million acres to roads flies in the face of logic.
Leave the Roadless Rule intact, for our future, the future of our children, to honor indigenous cultures, and maintain diversity and health of flora and fauna, to keep our earth in balance.