October 5, 2026
Secretary Rollins,
I am in firm opposition of the proposed repeal of the U.S. Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
My name is Molly Troup and I have my master’s degree in environmental science and management. Since obtaining my degree, I have dedicated my career to protecting the public resources that the Roadless Rule currently helps to protect including creeks, rivers, and wildlife. Road building and logging will have detrimental effects on important resources, particularly water resources through soil erosion, runoff, and stream sedimentation (DEIS pg 111, 117, 118). Building roads in wilderness areas will negatively impact biodiversity and degrade critical habitats and has the potential to increase the introduction and spread of non-native species (DEIS pg 151, 160).
Additionally, I am a trail runner, hiker, and backpacker and an avid user of our incredible local wilderness area, the Los Padres National Forest. I spend time in the Los Padres National Forest every week. In addition to my local roadless areas, I deeply value other ones as well. My family and I, including my three year old son, actively seek out these areas to explore and recreate in for or vacations. I deeply value these vast areas, as do so many others. This is clearly supported by the outdoor recreational economic activity. Recreation and tourism contribute billions of dollars to the economy (DEIS pg 212), which is much more than the millions that logging is projected to produce (DEIS pg 220).
There are many more reasons that this repeal does not make sense, including facts that forest fires are most often caused by humans, creating more roads will simply increase the number of fires. Additionally, the Forest Service is unable to maintain the number of roads that they currently have in their inventory, new ones should not be added.
This repeal threatens a legacy that benefits all Americans. I urge, particularly for current and future generations to conserve our nation’s roadless forests and keep the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place.
Sincerely,
Molly Troup