“Forest Service already can't afford to maintain the roads it has”
“creates costs taxpayers will carry for decades”
The comment
To Secretary Rollins:
I urge you to keep the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place. Its nearly 45 million acres are among the last places in America where you can walk for hours and hear only wind, water, and birdsong, free of vehicle noise, exhaust, and the dangers of traffic. Once a road is cut through, it's gone for good.
Roads also damage the ecosystems this rule was built to protect:
- Wildlife: Vehicles kill animals directly, and traffic noise masks the calls animals rely on to find mates and avoid predators. Roads also fragment habitat for elk, bear, and other wide-ranging species.
- Water: Road runoff and washouts send fine sediment into streams, smothering the gravel beds where salmon and steelhead spawn.
- Invasive species: Vehicles carry weed seeds into intact native habitat.
- Wildfire: More access means more human-caused ignitions.
The Forest Service already can't afford to maintain the roads it has. Adding more in remote, erosion-prone terrain creates costs taxpayers will carry for decades.
The public has made its opposition to this repeal clear. Please withdraw it and leave something quiet for the generations that follow.
Sincerely,
Lukas Wehrle
Portland, OR 97212
mww.luke@gmail.com