FS-2025-0001-605648

To the U.S. Forest Service: I am writing to express my strong opposition to any efforts to rescind, weaken, or roll back the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. As an avid user and advocate for our nation’s public lands, I rely heavily on the integrity and protection of our inventoried roadless areas. I frequently visit many of these areas, including the Jarrett Creek, Mackey Mountain, Bearwallow, Balsam Cone, Craggy Mountain, and South Mills River areas near my home in Western North Carolina. I spend many hours in the forests in these areas - riding my bike, hiking, and running. The peace and quiet and connection with nature help keep me grounded and are essential to my well-being. I am happiest when I am in the forest, and I treasure having these wild places so close to my home. I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to be able to spend hours every week in these wild places where I encounter so many types of beautiful and interesting plants, insects, and wild animals. I encounter bears, deer, bobcats, snakes, rabbits, groundhogs, turkeys, fish, turtles, and many other critters in these areas. Being out in these wild places reminds me that I am only a tiny piece of such an incredible and immense world. These wild places untouched by development provide peace and solitude that is so rare in our world. These forests are irreplaceable, and the damage done by rescinding the protections in these areas would be devastating and irreversible. I have already seen massive damage to our area's forests from Hurricane Helene and how that has allowed for invasive species to flourish in some areas. I am also greatly concerned about the increased wildfire risk in my area. Undoing the protections in these areas would only cause further damage in a time when the land is just beginning to heal from Helene. Protecting these unfragmented landscapes is deeply personal to me because I recreate in these forests regularly, and I value the pristine wildlife habitats these wild areas contain. I urge the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to abandon the proposed rescission and instead maintain full protections for all currently designated inventoried roadless areas. Thank you for the opportunity to provide public comment and for your time in considering my input on this important issue. Sincerely, Dorothy