I am a conservationist, multi-state, multi-generational landowner, Master Naturalist, and former Georgia Native Plant Society President and wish to present my objection to the consideration of removing the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that has stood firm across multiple circuits and implemented by both parties. Protecting the biodiversity of these pristine areas is paramount to me as a voting citizen whose parents taught me to love, respect, respect science, and cherish our land and wild places and the value in education.
I strongly oppose rescinding the Roadless Rule in its entirety based as wildfire protection. I am well aware that fire suppression has degraded fire-dependent ecosystems. A century of aggressive fire suppression — made possible by road access — has transformed fire-adapted forests like longleaf and ponderosa pine. This is why we are planting long leaf and potentially Montane Long Leaf on our farms once we have completed our controlled burns and invasive removals. We understand that without periodic low-intensity fire, fuels will accumulate as they have most recently with Helene and forest structure shifts toward conditions that support catastrophic, stand-replacing fires (USDA Forest Service 2001). — USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, May (https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr509.pdf)
We are well aware that fire suppression has degraded fire-dependent ecosystems. A century of aggressive fire suppression — made possible by road access — has transformed fire-adapted forests like longleaf and ponderosa pine. This is why we are planting long leaf and potentially Montane Long Leaf on our farms once we have completed our controlled burns and invasive removals. We understand that without periodic low-intensity fire, fuels will accumulate as they have most recently with Helene and forest structure shifts toward conditions that support catastrophic, stand-replacing fires (USDA Forest Service 2001). — USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, May (https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr509.pdf).
We have personally experienced that roads are where most wildfires start. A 2026 study covering 30 years of wildfire data across the entire National Forest System found that wildfire ignition density within 50 meters of roads was nearly four times higher than the average for non-wilderness, non-roadless forest lands. Wilderness areas and Inventoried Roadless Areas had the lowest ignition densities of any category studied (Aplet et al. 2026). — Aplet et al., 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-026-00450-2). Most ignitions near roads are also human-caused. The same study found that human-caused ignitions were concentrated near roads, near the wildland-urban interface, and in high-road-density areas. Lightning-caused ignitions, by contrast, were concentrated away from roads and in lower-density areas. The further from a road, the fewer human-caused fires (Narayanaraj & Wimberly 2012; Aplet et al. 2026). — Wimberly, 2012 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.09.004); Aplet et al., 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-026-00450-2). Best practices we personally witnessed in the Sequoia National Forest is done by workers using manual tools to collect and create burn pyramids to be left in tack until winter when conditions are right for controlled burns. We do not need to introduce roads which are proven to result in soil quality reduction to forest edges; introduction of invasive species and diseases to all areas through use of skid steers and other logging equipment; increased sedimentation in streams and rivers polluting water quality and impacting all aquatic lifeforms but also natural aquifers from which humans draw their drinking water; they create barriers to aquatic and terrestrial movement, increase potential for landslides and disturbances to forest roots and slope stability; introduction of cattle and other agricultural animals will lead to soil erosion, disease, invasive plant expansion and much more I can expand upon.
Road construction in roadless areas is the primary cause of ecosystem destruction and endangering wildlife. For these reasons, in addition to the aesthetic loss of our national treasures, we vehemently oppose rescinding the Roadless Rule. Facilitating energy, mineral, and timber production “to the maximum possible extent” on public lands will cost our nation far more in ecological desecration than will be compensated by short-term revenues they generate.
Now that the Endangered Species Act no longer defines what is "harmful", we absolutely must protect the habitats of our biodiverse habitats in our public spaces. Wildfires are without doubt attributed to roads and public interaction with our wilderness spaces.
I urge you to support H.R. 3930, the Roadless Area Conservation Act, to provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within our treasured National Forest System.
With hope, Melanie Pollard