Comment Analysis · Docket FS-2025-0001

FS-2025-0001-600117

Opposes rescissionA1 strongSubstance 12/24Owed an answerPosted October 7, 2026 On Regulations.gov

In short: The comment documents that the agency's proposal to rescind the Roadless Rule conflicts with its own prior findings on wildfire incidence and economic cost-benefit analyses, and requests that the agency explain these discrepancies and quantify the specific administrative burdens before proceeding.

Scored directly — The comment's whole text was scored on its own.

Scorecard

Each dimension is scored 0–3; the eight sum to the substance score out of 24.

Specific placeNames a specific location — from a region down to an exact creek, trail, road, or map reference.
Local knowledgeDraws on a first-hand connection to the place — visits, sustained activity, occupation, or a professional role.
EA analysisEngages the agency's environmental analysis directly.
Analytical gapIdentifies something the analysis fails to address.
EvidenceBacks claims with specific facts, data, or research.
RequestMakes a specific, actionable request of the agency.
AlternativeProposes a different course of action.
LegalCites statutes, regulations, or legal obligations.

How hard it is to set aside

A1 strong: Must be answered — it names the law.

Owed an answer on Analytical gap, Legal.

Standard dismissals it defeats

Already addressed The agency says its analysis already covers the point. Defeated when the comment cites the law itself: there is no analysis to cite against a statutory claim.
Misreads the proposal The agency says the comment misunderstands what is proposed. Defeated when the comment engages the proposal or a named place directly.
No cause and effect shown The agency says the comment asserts a harm without showing how the action causes it. Defeated when the comment shows the mechanism.
Outside the scope The agency says the comment asks about a different action. Defeated when the comment is specific and tied to this proposal.
Certified not substantive The agency certifies the comment raises nothing substantive. Defeated when the comment alleges illegality, which is substantive by the definition the certification runs on.

Still open to the agency

Alternative already eliminated The agency says it considered and eliminated the alternative the comment proposes, with a reason. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Deferred to a later decision The agency says the point belongs to a later, site-specific decision. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Not required The agency says the analysis the comment asks for is not required. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.
Preference noted The agency notes the comment as a statement of preference and takes no action on it. Cannot be defeated from the comment text alone.

Topics

Recreation Tourism Public Use
- “quiet found in backcountry areas is not available anywhere near roads”
- “grounded, peaceful quality that simply does not exist where roads are found”
- “recreation losses of at least $6.1 million a year”
- “experience... for ourselves and our children's children”
Forest Management Wildfire
- “human-caused wildland fire is nearly five times more likely to occur on essentially roaded lands”
- “far higher fire density on roaded land than inside the affected roadless areas”
- “community wildfire protection are already in the text”
- “justifies rescission partly on wildfire and fuels management grounds”
Economic Impact Fiscal
- “total timber volume affected by this rule is less than 0.5 percent of total United States production”
- “net present value ranging from -$92 million to +$199 million”
- “road system the agency would expand already carries a $6.9 billion maintenance backlog”
- “action whose own analysis cannot demonstrate a net positive outcome”
Legal Regulatory Framework
- “Ninth Circuit struck it down”
- “specific legal deficiencies identified the last time it tried to substitute state processes”
- “agency must address its own prior finding that local decision-making can incrementally erode nationally significant roadless values”
- “withdraw it”

What it names

Law cited: 36 C.F.R. Section 294.12

The comment

Shaded passages are the ones the analysis quoted as evidence for a dimension: Specific placeLocal knowledgeEA analysisAnalytical gapEvidenceRequestAlternativeLegal

Re: Rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, Docket FS-2025-0001 The quiet found in backcountry areas is not available anywhere near roads and human development. I have hiked and camped in many such places, and I know that feeling of time slowing down, that grounded, peaceful quality that simply does not exist where roads are found. Each backcountry location is incredibly unique in so many ways, and each one we have matters for that variety, for the ecosystems found there, and for ourselves and our children's children to be able to experience. The proposal before the agency would put all of that at risk, and the agency's own record makes a poor case for doing so. Start with fire. The agency's own findings state that "Building a road into a forest at high risk from uncharacteristic wildfire effects could increase the incidence of human-caused fires. A human-caused wildland fire is nearly five times more likely to occur on essentially roaded lands than on essentially unroaded lands." The proposal nevertheless justifies rescission partly on wildfire and fuels management grounds. The agency needs to explain, in plain terms, why this proposal departs from its own prior findings on fire occurrence, and how it reconciles the rescission with the ignition data in its own draft environmental impact statement, which reports far higher fire density on roaded land than inside the affected roadless areas. The economics do not hold up either. The record acknowledges that "the total timber volume affected by this rule is less than 0.5 percent of total United States production, and the total oil and gas production from all National Forest System lands is currently about 0.4 percent of the current national production." Those are small numbers to set against significant permanent losses. The agency's own cost-benefit analysis projects $5.2 to $11.4 million a year in timber revenue to the Forest Service against recreation losses of at least $6.1 million a year, with a net present value ranging from -$92 million to +$199 million. That range does not establish a net benefit. Meanwhile, the road system the agency would expand already carries a $6.9 billion maintenance backlog. How does an action whose own analysis cannot demonstrate a net positive outcome justify enlarging that liability? The agency has also been down this road before. The record quotes the agency itself expressing dissatisfaction with the Roadless Rule and rejecting its "inflexible 'one-size-fits-all' nationwide rulemaking approach." 70 Fed.Reg. at 25,656. That dissatisfaction led to a state-by-state replacement, and the Ninth Circuit struck it down. The proposal moves in the same direction again. The agency must address its own prior finding that local decision-making can incrementally erode nationally significant roadless values, and it must explain how this proposal avoids the specific legal deficiencies identified the last time it tried to substitute state processes for one national rule. Finally, the existing rule already accommodates a range of management needs. It "generally banned road building subject to limited exceptions including: the preservation of 'reserved or outstanding rights' or discretionary Forest Service construction necessary for public health and safety. 36 C.F.R. Section 294.12(b)(1),(3)." The exceptions for public health and safety, existing mineral leases, and community wildfire protection are already in the text. The agency claims administrative burden justifies rescission, but it has not shown which specific burdens those exceptions fail to address. It should identify them, by category, and quantify them before going further. The places I am writing about are irreplaceable. That variety of ecosystems, that quiet, that slow-down feeling, once a road cuts through it, it does not come back. The agency has not made a factual, legal, or economic case sufficient to justify this rescission, and I urge it to withdraw it. Kristen Portland, Oregon