I am writing to submit a public comment on the Notice of Intent to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. I care deeply about our national forests and strongly oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. Here where I live in the state of Florida it would be a disaster for our wildlife and the people here, while development continues to close in from every side.
Our untouched forestlands in the Ocala, Osceola and Apalachicola National Forests would be opened to logging and more road building. That could fragment the habitat of the Florida scrub jay in Ocala National Forest; it could pollute lakes and ponds that house the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle in the Osceola National Forest; and it could threaten the state’s largest populations of red-cockaded woodpeckers in the Apalachicola National Forest.
More broadly, the Forest Service was originally founded to protect forests and watersheds from logging and development. Scientists have since determined that roads fragment the landscape in ways that are even more ecologically harmful than clearcuts. Roadless areas protect habitat for 1,600 at-risk species, safeguard clean drinking water for 60 million Americans, and preserve old-growth forests hundreds of years old. As our Florida springs and other waterways experience reduced water flows and we experience extended periods of extreme drought, I'm especially concerned about actions that would reduce Floridians' access to clean drinking water.
On top of that contrary to USDA’s claim that this rescission will help the agency reduce fire risk, more roads are likely to mean more fires. New research shows wildfires are four times more likely to start in roaded areas than in unroaded tracts. In this era of increasing wildfires we need to prioritize strategies that reduce the likelihood of wild fires, not increase it.
The Roadless Rule is the most popular rule ever implemented in USDA’s history. When it was first proposed in 2001, the Roadless Rule received 1.6 million public comments—more than any rule in U.S. history at that time. Over 95% of these comments supported keeping roadless protections.
For all these reasons I strongly oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. Please protect America’s remaining roadless areas for current and future generations.
Laura Oldanie