Dear Secretary:
As an avid hiker and outdoorswoman, I am writing to strongly oppose repealing the roadless rule. I stand with the majority of Americans who support keeping the Roadless Rule - 76% according to the Pew Research Center, and over 90% of the comments during the last public comment period.
Road building and vegetation management reshape fire regimes by changing ignition sources, fuel loads, and landscape-scale fire behavior.
Most ignitions near roads are 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)
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would open the Cedar Mountain, Chattahoochee National Forest to road construction and associated ground disturbance. The direct and indirect effects of that activity are precisely what makes a specific comment about this area necessary.
Areas protected by the Roadless Rule include more than 25,000 miles of trails - including the trail closest to my heart, and the most famous of our National Scenic Trails, the Appalachian Trail. Repealing the Roadless Rule would also impact a variety of other outdoor activities, including over 760 miles of whitewater routes, thousands of climbing and bouldering routes, world-class backcountry hunting grounds, and pristine fishing waters.
These activities are not only beneficial for the economies of nearby, often rural communities, but also allow people an escape from industrial noise, traffic, and permanent roads.
Eliminating the Roadless Rule is harmful to the environment in countless ways - impacting native species' habitats and migratory areas, worsening water quality, and harming endangered species' already limited populations, to name a few. The most concerning risk to me is the increased risk of wildfires. With higher temperatures and less water fall each year, we already have deadly wildlifes every year. Repealing the Roadless Rule has been touted as a way to reduce wildfires erroneously. The majority of fires are human-caused and the U.S. Forest Service data shows that 78 percent of human-caused fires on national forests begin within half a mile of a road. Bringing roads further into the backcountry means increased risk of more fires due to more humans having easier access to these remote areas. Additionally, thicker forests are better wind barriers to prevent the spread of wildfire, and older trees take longer to burn through than young trees.
This comment joins the record in opposition to the proposed rescission action.
Sincerely,
Dr. Danielle Rustem