I am a retired employee of the USDA conservation service (Soil Conservation Service / Natural Resources Conservation Service), with decades of experience in soil and water conservation. I oppose the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (docket FS-2025-0001). For a quarter century, this rule has protected approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands from new road construction and timber harvesting. Rescinding it would not restore local control of healthy forests; it would open landscapes to roadbuilding and logging that have thrived precisely because they were left intact. The wildfire rationale does not hold up: published research (Aplet, Hartger & Dietz, January 2026) found that national-forest wildfires are four times more likely to start near roads. More roads mean more ignitions, not fewer. As an Indiana resident, I note the Hoosier National Forest contains roughly 8,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas (per the Forest Service's own mapping), within a forest that anchors recreation and clean water for south-central Indiana. The Lake Monroe watershed — sole drinking-water source for more than 130,000 residents — depends on intact forest on steep, erosion-prone slopes; it is the cheapest water-treatment infrastructure in the region. Finally, the record shows this is not what the public wants: the 2025 scoping process drew more than 220,000 comment letters representing over 625,000 individuals, with roughly 99% opposed to rescission. Please keep the 2001 Roadless Rule in place.