We need areas without roads. We need wildlife & silence to decompress. We need to protect our wild areas. Ioppose the rollback of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. For more than two decades, this rule has protected much of the wildness that remains in our national forests. The protections have been particularly vital in the Midwest, where less than 200,000 acres of roadless, untrammeled forest lands survived the widespread logging of the past two centuries.
We have very few natural areas here in Illinois. The Shawnee Forest & other areas in southern Illinois need protection. From Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet to Michigan's Ottawa, Hiawatha, and Huron-Manistee, the Midwest’s national forests have important roadless areas that provide critical habitat for wildlife, clean our drinking water, store carbon, and offer refuge for people seeking quiet and beauty.
Trump wants to make these natural areas available for profiteering. Giving away our heritage for owners of mines, lumber, etc. These roadless areas are also an enormous resource for the recreation economy in the Midwest.
Our roadless areas are worth more in recreational & tourist money than would be gained by the businesses trying to take our land for their profit. I urge you to stop rolling back protections for our public lands and leave our last wild forests intact. Please keep the Roadless Rule in place.
Sincerely,
Dr. Karlene Ramsdell
1124 Moorland Ave Shorewood, IL 60404-9618
2154ramsdell@gmail.com