I am writing because I am deeply concerned about the proposal to rescind the Roadless Rule.
I live on Florida’s Forgotten Coast, and the Apalachicola National Forest is not some distant piece of public land to me. It is part of the place I call home. I know what these forests mean to the people, plants, and animals that depend on them.
Florida is already being eaten up by development. Roads, subdivisions, storage facilities, businesses and all the rest keep moving into what used to be wild land. Every time we lose another piece of intact habitat, the pieces that remain become more important.
That is why the idea of opening roadless areas to new roads and logging concerns me so much. A road is never just a road. It cuts through habitat, changes how animals move, brings more human activity into places that have remained relatively wild, and can affect the water and everything connected to it.
The Apalachicola National Forest is home to an incredible diversity of life, including species that are already struggling to survive in an increasingly developed Florida. We should be protecting these remaining places, not making it easier to cut them up.
I understand that forests have to be managed, and I understand that there are legitimate concerns about wildfire and forest health. But I do not believe that rescinding a protection that has kept roadless areas intact for decades is the answer.
There are some places that are valuable simply because they are still wild.
I want my grandchildren to know what that feels like. I want them to walk through a Florida forest and hear the birds, see native plants growing where they belong, find tracks in the sand, and know that not every beautiful place has been turned into something else.
We have already developed so much of Florida. Please do not sacrifice the remaining intact places because they are harder to reach.
I urge you to keep the Roadless Rule in place and protect Florida’s remaining roadless national forest lands.