FS-2025-0001-589938

I am writing concerning the proposal to rescind the Roadless Rule that is currently protecting 45 million acres in our National Forests. I am absolutely opposed to rescinding the Roadless Rule. I am 100% in favor of KEEPING the Roadless Rule in place. The roadless rule protects our old growth forests and sensitive ecosystems. It PREVENTS forest fires, and it PROTECTS our watersheds, which support wildlife and provide us with safe drinking water. I reside in Florida, and I love our Public lands. I have visited, camped and hiked in many of our national forests inlcuding Pisgah National Forest, The Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Targhee, Cibola National Forest, Lolo National Forest, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Bristlecone Pine Forest and more. I live part time in New Hampshire, where I enjoy hiking in the White Mountains. I am aware of the Granite State’s significance in establishing a National Forest service to begin with. Over 100 years ago, logging led to widespread wildfires and deforestation which in turn caused erosion and landslides which resulted in massive pollution in the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers rendering them unnavigable. We must never go back to the BAD OLD DAYS. 

I also have a child who fights fires in the Owens Valley Conservation district in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is a Fallacy to state that rescinding the roadless rule helps with wildfire mitigation. The fact is, where there are roads, and where the canopy is thinned out due to logging wildfires increase and spread much more easily. Where the soil is disturbed by road building, and by logging, fast growing succession species come in. These are all too often invasive species that smother trees and provide more fuel for fires. I have personal experience managing infestations of oriental bittersweet on my 200 acre property in New Hampshire. This plant destabilizes soil running under existing native trees and shrubs. It grows rapidly because it can spread by seed, rooting, or cuttings. It quickly overtakes trees, blocking the light and killing them, creating more fuel for fires. The roadless rule preserves ecosystems and old growth forests which in turn provides far better protection against wildfire than roads and the accompanying logging ever could. Furthermore, protecting and preserving road free forests protects the watershed. This in turn protects not only the wildlife that depend on clean water, but the people, too. We cannot escape that we, too, depend on clean drinking water. This is why water management districts are so strict about what activities are permitted near reservoirs and the streams that feed them. More roads leads to more pollution due and more erosion. We must not allow this to happen. Finally, as someone who lived for several years in the Western Carolina mountains before moving to Florida, I urge you to protect the sensitive and diverse ecosystems that are in our National Forests. There are more species of flora and fauna in the Southern Appalachians than in the entire continent of Europe. Many exist there alone. Alpine, desert and wetland areas, too are fragile and must be protected. Once gone, they are gone for good. As I am a Christian, I believe we must respect and protect God’s creation, not destroy it for our own selfish and short sighted desires. Please, preserve the Roadless Rule as it is. DO NOT RESCIND IT.