FS-2025-0001-594769

As members of the National Parks Conservation Association’s (NPCA) Northwest Regional Council we urge the U.S. Forest Service to keep the Roadless Rule in place to protect the water, wildlife, and wild places that sustain our national parks including Olympic, Crater Lake, North Cascades. Since 2001, the Roadless Rule has protected the integrity of key national park landscapes across Washington and Oregon. In the Northwest, roadless areas conserve some of our favorite places to hike, bike, and hunt. These protections secure the cold-water fisheries that support the salmon populations the northwest is renowned for. These intact forests also secure habitat for federally protected species, from Canada Lynx and Marbled Murrelets to Bull Trout and endangered salmon. The Council works with NPCA’s Northwest regional staff and includes business and community leaders committed to securing the future of our national parks. We work with communities and businesses to support national parks and adjacent public lands. Healthy national parks depend on healthy forests, clean waterways, and intact public lands beyond their boundaries, including many places protected by the Roadless Rule. More than 45 million acres of national forest lands are designated roadless, and nearly 30% of those acres are within 30 miles of national park sites. Rescinding the Roadless Rule will remove protections from roughly 1,965,000 acres in Oregon and 2,015,000 in Washington. Across the Northwest region, the Roadless Rule protects public lands that are integral to national park landscapes. These protections include: • In the North Cascades Ecosystem, anchored by North Cascades National Park, roadless land helps support wildlife movement, expanded recreation opportunities, wildfire resilience, and watershed health expanding the protected core by 31%. • Nearly 70,000 acres of roadless area in Olympic National Forest border Olympic National Park, providing protections for the hydrologic features that characterize this landscape and provide the cold, clean water required by bull trout, coho salmon, and the Olympic torrent salamander. • Roadless areas in the Malheur and Ochoco national forest in Oregon provide important big game habitat for elk, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope within the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument landscape. If Roadless Rule protections are rescinded, these lands—and more than 45 million acres of public lands nationwide—will be opened to roadbuilding, large-scale logging, mining, and oil and gas development, putting nearby national parks, gateway communities, outdoor recreation, clean water, and wildlife at risk. As national park advocates and community leaders from across the region, we urge you to choose the No Action alternative and keep the Roadless Rule in place to protect roadless forests and the national park landscapes they sustain. Thank You, Kai Tran Blaine, Washington Lisa Mighetto Seattle, Washington Lou Capozzi Bend, Oregon Matt Rudolf Mercer Island, Washington Robyn Grad Seattle, Washington Roger Andrascik Eatonville, Washington Sara Crumb Seattle, Washington Susan Pohl Seattle, Washington