RE: Docket #FS-2025-0001; RIN 0596-AD66
I urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place and withdraw the proposal to rescind it.
For 25 years, this rule has protected crucial Florida habitat for more than 130 threatened and endangered plant species and nearly 40 animal species. Rescinding it to allow new roads and logging would do lasting harm. It would fragment the habitat of the Florida scrub jay in the Ocala National Forest. It would pollute the lakes and ponds where the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle lives in the Osceola National Forest. And it would threaten the state's largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers in the Apalachicola National Forest.
These losses could not be undone. Once a road is built, it brings erosion, runoff, invasive species, and human disturbance for decades. Habitat broken into pieces does not recover on any timeline that matters for species already at risk.
The existing rule already allows fuel reduction to lower wildfire risk and road access in public safety emergencies. Removing these protections is not needed to manage Florida's forests responsibly.
I grew up in Florida, and have seen so much of what makes this state a treasure lost to development. Please leave the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place.