I strongly urge the US Forest Service to retain the current Roadless Area rule as it exists and not be modified or eliminated. As a hunter and angler, I have enjoyed many roadless areas in the United States and especially within my home state of West Virginia. Such designated roadless areas as the Seneca Creek, North Fork Mountain, and Cheat Mountain roadless areas in the Monongahela National Forest and Sugar Knob area in the George Washington National Forests are among my favorite places in West Virginia to hunt, hike, camp, and fish. With a graduate degree in plant ecology, I can also attest that the forests in these areas are much healthier than adjoining federal lands managed for timber. This is to a large degree due to our Central Appalachian forests being heavily susceptible to invasive plant invasions which are often severe in managed lands but typically much less common in roadless areas. That is a simple reality that cannot be dismissed based on any sound science. Furthermore, roadless areas by definition are less fragmented than managed areas of the national forests. The Central and Southern Appalachians have many species that have great difficulty dispersing across roads, even relatively small forest roads. This is especially true for many if not most regional endemics such as land snails, lungless salamanders, and perennial plants. While highly mobile species like birds may often benefit from management actions, that is not the case for these other species that depend on these landscapes for survival. Considering the roadless areas occupy less than 1% of West Virginia, it is impossible for me to see how those of us that enjoy hunting, fishing, and hiking in these backcountry landscapes or the very large number of species that benefit from their existence would not be harmed by this proposed rule. I finally would like to say that I am a life-long, tenth-generation West Virginian. As a landowner and full-time resident within the Monongahela National Forest, I am disappointed that the Forest Service has proposed such a poorly justified rule change.