Secretary Rollins,
I urge you not to rescind the Roadless Rule. Throughout my life some of my greatest memories have been exploring the preserved wilderness of this country through its many national forests and parks like Yosemite and the Smoky Mountains. In my home state I have spent so much time exploring Daniel Boone National Forest and hiking Mammoth Cave National Park. These places are so special because they give me, and countless others, a place to go away from technology and progress and connect to nature and ourselves. Outside of myself, keeping these areas roadless is important to so many habitats and helps preserve migration corridors that are few and far between. Preservation of this land is necessary to preserve biodiversity.
I object whole-heartedly to the entirety of this rule change for many reasons. This rule would allow increased logging and building of new roads that would increase wildfire risk and jeopardize clean water in those areas. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-026-00450-2) These actions will also increase the spread of invasive species that are detrimental to our wild areas. (https://roadless.org/learning/concerns/invasive-species)
The best thing you can do is leave our wild areas as they are, untouched by roads. Our protected, roadless areas are so important, and they deserve preservation not destruction. Please do the best thing for our environment, our health, and our economy and leave our wilderness roadless.