Ten years ago, I moved from an urban area to the Shenandoah Valley after spending years driving out to hikes out here. I wanted to be near untouched areas, clean water, wildlife, and recreation in the George Washington National Forest and to be closer to the roadless areas on Shenandoah Mountain provide. I joined a naturalist group so I could understand the ecology here better and to get trained to take on exciting and impactful volunteer projects to support this beautiful land. There are more fires near areas with roads and conflicts between cars and animals. The GWF has the most and the largest roadless areas. These areas are special and biologically rich and have been successfully protected from logging and development for years. The habitat deserves protection as we encroach more and more in undeveloped lands. Our Valley towns deserve clean water and we are downstream of these roadless areas. Our community members and tourists deserve to have beautiful unique places to explore recreationally. We have something special here to share with others and when they visit, they spend money to support our local economies. Please do not proceed with the rescission of the roadless rule. Once you move forward with it, there’s no going back and too much to lose.