Dear USDA Forest Service Planning Team,
I am commenting to express that I strongly oppose the proposal to fully or partially rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and I urge the U.S. Forest Service to select Alternative 1 (the 'No Action' Alternative) to keep all protections in place.
I have spent a great deal of time in various areas currently protected under the National Roadless Rule, including but not limited to Green Mountain National Forest, White Mountain National Forest, Allegheny National Forest, Monongahela National Forest, Dixie National Forest, Uinta National Forest, as well as Pike, San Isabel, Gunnison and White River National Forests protected under the Colorado Roadless Rule. In these places I have met and lived with people who are dependent on the preservation of this rule- whether they rely on local watersheds for drinking water (roadless areas protect critical municipal water sources and drinking water for more than 60 million Americans across dozens of states), or whether they recreate like myself (hike, fish, hunt, camp, or mountain bike), or rely on the preservation of lands for that recreation to sustain their employment and local economy in specific inventoried roadless areas (IRAs). All of this of course, and still yet to mention the catastrophic impact rolling back this rule would have on habitat and wildlife, old growth and climate.
Because the existing rule already permits necessary management and emergency fire response, opening 58.5 million acres to new commercial logging, mining, and road construction is unnecessary and harmful. Please preserve the 2001 Roadless Rule in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Lisa (Bolduc) Bobowicz
East Aurora, New York