The Roadless Area Conservation Rule should not be rescinded. I am in strong support of Alternative 1, the No Action alternative, in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roadless Area Conservation. I urge the Forest Service to retain the 2001 Roadless Rule in its entirety and reject any proposals to rescind or weaken these vital protections across our national forests.
Inventoried roadless areas provide irreplaceable ecological, economic, and social values that must be preserved for current and future generations.
I oppose Alternatives 2 and 3 since they would jeopardize the following benefits to the American public.
Vital Habitat for Imperiled Species - The lands in question include diverse forests, wetlands, canyons and other undeveloped lands that are critical to our nation's ecological health. Because they are not fragmented by roads, these Roadless Areas provide habitat for many imperiled species such as California condors, grizzly bears and wolves in the Yellowstone area, native salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest, migratory songbirds in the Appalachian hardwoods and more. They also sustain wild salmon, especially in Alaska where they are the lifeblood for both the fishing industry and traditional subsistence practices of Indigenous communities.  
America’s Drinking Water - The US National Forests are the headwaters of many of our great rivers and one of the largest sources of municipal water supply in the nation, serving over 60 million people in 3,400 communities in 33 states. Because it protects these headwaters, the 2001 Roadless Rule is vital for maintaining clean drinking water for communities across the country. Major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, and Atlanta receive a significant portion of their water supply from national forests.
Economic and Recreational Value - Roadless areas offer abundant outdoor recreation opportunities such as hiking, hunting, fishing, and camping in primitive settings. Every year, millions of people visit roadless outdoor areas and directly support a robust outdoor recreation economy. According to maps from Outdoor Alliance’s GIS Lab, roadless areas protect 11,337 climbing routes and boulder problems, more than 1,000 whitewater paddling runs, 43,826 miles of trail, and 20,298 mountain biking trails. Large sections of the Continental Divide, Pacific Crest, and Appalachian National Trails traverse protected roadless areas.
Precious Old Growth Forests - Many roadless areas are sanctuaries of the last remaining fragments of old growth forests. While the biggest ones are found in the western US and Alaska, the tiny fragments that remain in our eastern national forests can be as small as a few thousand acres. Many of these areas have remained roadless because they are not suitable to extractive industries, often having steep slopes and poor soil. We must protect the few precious fragments of old growth that we have left.
Millions Support the Roadless Rule - The Roadless Rule is a highly popular policy that is often celebrated as one of America’s most successful conservation measures. Prior to its enactment, more than 600 public hearings were held nationwide, and 1.6 million Americans weighed in to call for protection of these forestlands. More recently, more than 45 members of the House and Senate have signed onto legislation that would codify the Roadless Rule so that in the future, it could not be rolled back without an act of Congress.
Rollback Paves the Way for Logging - The real reason a rollback of the Roadless Rule is being proposed is to re-open these forests to logging and other industrial development. This proposal follows other administrative actions that have called for a dramatic increase in logging and oil and gas drilling on federal lands. An increase in these industrial activities would worsen climate change, destroy recreation areas, put the lands at greater risk of wildfire, destroy wildlife habitat, and threaten drinking water sources.
Roadbuilding Drains Taxpayers - Even with the Roadless Rule in place, the Forest Service already has a 370,000-mile road system – twice as long as the nation’s highway system – crisscrossing national forests. This forest road infrastructure is already so big that the Forest Service can’t afford to properly maintain it, triggering billions in maintenance backlogs for needed repairs. Taxpayers have subsidized this already unwieldy road network and would be stuck paying for any new roads built in backcountry forest areas following this rollback. For example, the Hoosier National Forest is currently proposing to close a popular road, Tower Ridge Road, that has been open for generations due to lack of maintenance funding. The Forest Service cannot take on additional mileage that would come from removing the Roadless Area Conservation rule.
The Roadless Rule protects America’s last remaining wild places, and should be strengthened, not rescinded.