FS-2025-0001-607574

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Roadless Rule. We live in Pennsylvania. In the Eastern US, few places exist where we can be still awed into wordlessness by a night sky above us. For the last 3 years, we took on what were epic journeys for us, towing our camper across the US to National Parks in the western states where we could pursue a real dark night sky. We visited Devil's Tower, Badlands (SD), Rocky Mountain, Zion, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Theodore Roosevelt, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone. Previous years we flew to Grand Canyon, and Yosemite. While the night skies we very good, many people living in those areas don't recognize what beauty and resource they have, and do not take the care and respect the natural dark and and a naturally dark night sky. We experienced other campers in our National Parks with horrible outside lighting left on all night long while they slept, with no care that someone might value and treasure what was lost because of their careless use of light at night. We literally drove thousands of miles to see a night sky with the Milky Way blazing and not their camper. Yes, I am an amateur astronomer and used to be impressed by and focused on the technical facts surrounding the stars and DSO's. Lately, I have come to realize there is much more. The pure enjoyment of a natural night sky that leads to a state of wordlessness and amazement, akin to what I felt seeing the Tetons on our approach from Dubois, WY. Straight up couldn't speak for 5 minutes or so. Recently, while we all innately know this, the beautiful natural night sky is a resource for mental health and wellbeing. Like forest bathing, an immersive night sky can bring peace and a clear perspective so much that people will pay for an immersive experience under a truly pristinely naturally dark night sky. Our best night under the night sky was near Little Bighorn, at a private campground (7th Ranch) that bordered the National Monument. Night time weather hampered us in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Even our beautiful Yellowstone site in E Loop had a bathroom with all night lights poorly designed and installed so they severely limited what night sky we could see. Mostly, we are all careless about our lighting. We go to bed and leave the lights on. It is harming our health, our mental state, and causing damage to the natural world around us, especially the one that exists at nighttime. Here in the eastern US, it is very difficult to get people to change their habits. In the western US, where beautiful nights skies exist almost everywhere, people are careless and do not recognize what they have. Ending the Roadless Rule will just allow access to the vanishing pristine areas we still have, that still contain a wild, naturally dark, pristine night sky. Will people and companies be responsible with their lighting (and other anthropogenic impacts)? Historically and sadly, the evidence says we won't be responsible. The problem is, ecologically speaking, when we lose the night, we will lose the day. They are reciprocal entities that need each other to survive. That is what science offers evidence of. Beyond the words and equations of science exists something much, much deeper. It is embedded in our humanity and literally in our DNA. Ending the Roadless Rule will threaten the last precious places where we can find our very soul and find healing from the damages of the modern lifestyle. These precious treasures containing stunning natural areas and pristine night skies are an infinitely valuable balm worth more than the most expensive medicines known to man. Conserving such places is what our calling is and we will be accountable to a higher voice and the generations that come after us if we sell access to these precious treasures for what will profit a man. My vote, with all respect, is not to end the Roadless Rule, as it will bring a ruination of resources that don't belong to us. They belong to the generations and those resources are far more valuable than we can imagine. At Little Bighorn, my wordless moment was, Milky Way from horizon to horizon. To the north was Cassiopeia, which pointed to the Andromeda Galaxy. For the first time in my life of 7 decades and a little, I saw the Andromeda Galaxy with just my eyes. A part of me was healed and a 5000 mile drive was so worth it. Preserve that view so it heals other people, too. Put roads into these areas and we will lose it all. We have roads and access enough to all the resource we need. Keep the Roadless Rule. Thank you. (I included the view from Little Bighorn. It was far better than the camera could capture.)