Comment Analysis · Docket FS-2025-0001

FS-2025-0001-600549

Opposes rescissionA2 moderateSubstance 17/24Owed an answerPosted October 7, 2026 On Regulations.gov

In short: The comment documents specific deficiencies in the agency's analysis regarding small business impacts, the scope of foreseeable plan amendments, unassessed reliance interests, and the contradiction between the agency's own fire data and its wildfire risk claims, while requesting site-specific environmental analysis and an alternative retaining the 2001 rule's protections for Deep Creek Roadless Area.

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

A2 moderate: Hard to dismiss — it shows cause and effect.

Owed an answer on Analytical gap, Evidence.

Standard dismissals it defeats

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.

Topics

Recreation Tourism Public Use
- “I hike there for the last 10 years every year”
- “I love how I can not hear vehicles”
- “lost recreation benefit at a minimum of $6.1 million a year”
- “outfitters, guides and tour operators as affected”
Water Quality Quantity
- “The waters in the creek are so clean”
- “hot springs so delicately placed near the creek”
- “All that would be polluted with run off if roads were built”
Forest Management Wildfire
- “Human-caused ignition density is 22.4 fires per million acres per year on roaded National Forest System land against 3.0 inside the affected roadless areas”
- “human-caused ignitions increase in abundance with proximity to roads”
- “road access could increase the number and frequency of wildfires”
Legal Regulatory Framework
- “small-business certification contradicts the analysis beside it”
- “Under Encino Motorcars and Regents, an agency changing course must assess the reliance interests”
- “I ask that the agency withdraw the certification”

What it names

National Forests: San Bernardino National Forest
Roadless areas: Deep Creek

The comment

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

Re: Rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, Docket FS-2025-0001 The Roadless areas are very important to me. I could speak to generally how they help create more diverse and wild landscapes everywhere not just in their vicinity. The United States actually still has wild places unlike many other countries. But I will speak to my specific experience within Deep Creek Roadless Area. I hike there for the last 10 years every year. I love how I can not hear vehicles. I would be heartbroken if this place did not exist or if it was destroyed. To even build a single road in this area I am sure would destroy a lot. The waters in the creek are so clean and the hot springs so delicately placed near the creek. All that would be polluted with run off if roads were built. I am writing in opposition to the rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and specifically about Deep Creek (23,869 acres), San Bernardino National Forest, California. I ask that the agency disclose and analyze the site-specific environmental consequences of the proposed rescission for each of these areas, including the effects of the road construction and timber harvest it would newly allow. I raise the following issues for the record and ask that the agency respond to each of them: Issue 1: The small-business certification contradicts the analysis beside it I photograph trees, and my work is part of the recreation economy this document weighs. The agency certifies no impact while the analysis beside it says otherwise: The proposed rule certifies no significant impact on small entities while the DEIS names outfitters, guides and tour operators as affected and its own Cost Benefit Analysis books lost recreation benefit at a minimum of $6.1 million a year. The supporting regulatory flexibility analysis reaches its no-impact conclusion by spreading the $9 million annual expenditure loss across every small firm in the sector nationally, rather than assessing the outfitters and guides actually holding permits in the affected areas, and concedes some firms may lose these receipts. I ask that the agency withdraw the certification and assess the impact on the small entities actually operating in the potentially affected roadless areas, not the national average firm. Issue 2: Foreseeable plan amendments are placed beyond scope I photograph landscapes, and every frame depends on what the management plans allow next. The agency concedes where this leads and then declares it out of scope: The proposed rule concedes that subsequent land management plan amendments and revisions "could increase the area where timber harvest and road construction would be allowed," declares changes to plans beyond the scope of the proposal, and then requests public comment on them (91 FR 53830). The agency is asking commenters to perform the analysis it declared out of scope. I ask that the agency analyse the foreseeable plan-amendment scenario, including expanded timber harvest area, as part of this action. Issue 3: Reliance interests are invited and never assessed I photograph wildlife, and years of that work are built on these protections holding. That is a reliance interest, and the agency invited me to name it: The proposal solicits "any reliance interests in the current rule that could be affected by this proposal" (91 FR 53830-31), and the Cost Benefit Analysis weighs none. Under Encino Motorcars and Regents, an agency changing course must assess the reliance interests its prior policy created. This comment is such an interest. I ask that the agency identify and weigh the reliance interests described in the comments it receives, including this one. Issue 4: The agency's own fire data cuts against the proposal I hike and camp in this country, and fire shapes every trip I plan. If the agency's own data ties ignitions to road access, I want that weighed honestly. Human-caused ignition density is 22.4 fires per million acres per year on roaded National Forest System land against 3.0 inside the affected roadless areas (DEIS Table 21, 2014-2024), and the DEIS states that human-caused ignitions increase in abundance with proximity to roads. The effects analysis itself concedes that road access could increase the number and frequency of wildfires. I ask that the agency quantify the expected increase in human-caused ignitions from new road access and weigh it against the claimed reduction in wildfire hazard. I request that the agency respond in the record to each of the issues raised in this comment, and that it analyze in the DEIS an alternative that retains the 2001 rule's protections for the areas named above. Where this proposal rests on factual conclusions that differ from the agency's own prior findings quoted here, I ask that the agency acknowledge the change in position and provide a reasoned explanation for it on the record. Sincerely, Katherine Bauer Corona Del Mar, California