To the U.S. Forest Service Roadless Rule Docket:
I regularly hike, forage, ski and appreciate nature in this area.
I enjoy viewing nature in this area and feel that this area has an exceptional quantity of biodiveristy.
Once biodiversity goes away, it can never be replaced. Due to the unique location of this roadless area between the east and westside of the cascades, it has an incredible amount of biodiversity and a number of endemic species. This area is so understudied and diverse that in 2018 a new species of desert parsley was discovered. Lomatium roneorum is a "critically imperiled" species is a prime example of potential loss of biodiversity from rescinding the roadless rule. Specifically, we could lose biodiversity which hasn't even been identified.
I am a recreationist and naturalist who lives very near the Nason Ridge roadless area. I strongly oppose rescinding the roadless rule in order to preserve biodiversity, and due to the value of the ecological value of this area far exceeding monetary value it can provide from resource extraction.
Regarding the Nason Ridge in the Wenatchee National Forest, Washington:
"Of the 537 wildlife species of conservation concern in the contiguous United States, 308 species (57%) have at least some suitable habitat in one or more inventoried roadless areas (IRAs). The median IRA contains suitable habitat for 10 wildlife species of conservation concern, with a maximum of 62. If all IRAs were added to the protected-area system, there would be a substantial decrease (-38) in the number of wildlife species of conservation concern that are currently considered 'poorly represented' in protected areas."
— Global Ecology and Conservation / ScienceDirect, 2021
Without the Roadless Rule, the Nason Ridge IRA in Wenatchee National Forest loses the protection that currently maintains Pacific Northwest Maritime Subalpine Parkland (North Pacific Maritime Mesic Subalpine Parkland) (GNR, 2.8%, ~547 acres) as intact habitat for Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis, G3, T). The species is documented present and ecologically associated with this ecosystem through two independent data sources — rescission puts both at risk simultaneously.
Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis, G3) depends on the structural integrity of Pacific Northwest Maritime Subalpine Parkland (North Pacific Maritime Mesic Subalpine Parkland) in Nason Ridge for the specific life-history requirements NatureServe's ecological association identifies. Road construction disrupts canopy closure, soil structure, and moisture regimes — the ecosystem attributes that make this habitat functional for this species.
NatureServe identifies Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis, G3) as ecologically associated with Pacific Northwest Maritime Subalpine Parkland (North Pacific Maritime Mesic Subalpine Parkland) (GNR, 2.8%, ~547 acres) in the Nason Ridge IRA. The DEIS must incorporate this documented species-ecosystem association and analyze how road construction in Wenatchee National Forest disrupts it.
The Department should recognize that road construction in these areas isn't reversible and act with the caution that irreversibility demands.
With appreciation,
Patrick Henneghan