Dear Forest Service Leadership:
I live in the Pisgah National Forest and near the Cherokee National Forest and I want these areas to remain roadless in order to protect life. My community's water comes from these drainages and our air quality is dependent upon the health of these forests. They are are living system that support our lives. They are not resources to be used or extracted.
I live just down hill from Craggy Mountain and I hike in that area and all through the Pisgah Forest area. Being able to go where there are no roads, means we must walk and that means we connect with the forest, which is an essential part of being human. In addition, roads into this area will impact our water and the habitat for animals. Already human development is forcing bears into our communities where they learn to feast on human garbage and enter homes and cars. That is unfair for all.
The value of a roadless area to our health and wellbeing is critical. On Craggy you get away from the sounds of traffic, the lights of the city, and the din of small engines at work. I remember camping in roadless areas where the silence at nights is filled with the sounds of nature, the stars are breathtaking, and the presence of wildlife is all around. That is precious and missing from so many people's lives. Don't take that away.
Regarding the Craggy Mountain in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina:
4.2 - Utility & service lines drives Unknown severity impacts across Small (1-10%) scope for Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii, G2, T, SAT) in the Craggy Mountain IRA, Pisgah National Forest.
"From a sample of 463 nests of 17 songbird species, we evaluated how landscape features (distance to forest edge, unpaved roads, and power lines) influenced daily nest survival. For all nesting species combined, distance to unpaved road was the model that most influenced daily nest survival. Numerous nest predators, including brown-headed cowbirds, mammalian mesopredators, and snakes, have been shown to preferentially occupy habitat edge over interior. Rat snakes were frequently associated with road edges, indicating that not all edges are functionally similar."
— Ecology and Evolution (PMC), 2014
Roads fragment intact habitat through cut-and-fill earthwork, compact soils, reroute surface and subsurface water flow, and create impervious surfaces — each mechanism amplifying the effects of 4.2 - Utility & service lines on Bog Turtle.
“In 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibited road construction and timber harvest in 240,000 km² of inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) located on United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service lands. Many IRAs are among the most wild, undeveloped areas both in the nation and within their respective states. IRAs increase the size of—and reduce isolation between—protected areas, likely buffering them from external stressors. In some places, IRAs protect watersheds that deliver drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people. — Conservation Science and Practice (Wiley), 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.288)”
I want you to know that there is more at risk here than there is to gain. I want you to ask yourself, "who benefits from a road into a roadless area?" If the answer is people who want to make money or further extract resources from our precious and essential forests, then your answer about building roads should be NO!!
Sincerely,
Cheri Torres
CommentID: RLC-20261006-OPEH8V