FS-2025-0001-603444

These comments are submitted on behalf of Prairie Rivers Network and 658 people who signed a petition (the petition signers are named in the attached PDF) related to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule). The majority of our signers are Illinois residents who are particularly concerned about the impacts to the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. Prairie Rivers Network is an Illinois environmental nonprofit, and we are the state affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. Our mission is to protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Protect Shawnee's Roadless Areas: Keep the Roadless Rule in Place We oppose 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 Shawnee National Forest, where the forest is already highly fragmented. The 10,666 acres of important roadless areas in the Shawnee provide critical habitat for wildlife, clean our drinking water, store carbon, and offer refuge for people seeking quiet and beauty. Opening up areas of the Shawnee to more road construction means the spread of invasive species, further habitat fragmentation, erosion and sedimentation into pristine streams, as well as direct impacts to threatened and endangered species and all wildlife. We 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.