How To Submit A Public Comment to the USDA Forest Service

Help Protect the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule - Take 5 minutes to make your voice heard

Comment deadline: September 21, 2026

FIRST, SIGN ON TO OUR COLLECTIVE COMMENT → HERE  

THEN, SUBMIT YOUR INDIVIDUAL COMMENT →  HERE 

Contents

  1. How to Submit Your Comment
  2. Why Public Comments Matter
  3. What Is the Roadless Rule?
  4. Why Is ASBN Concerned?
  5. Sample Comment Template

How to Submit Your Individual Comment

Step 1: Go to the official Regulations.gov comment page

SUBMIT A COMMENT TO USDA → HERE (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/11/2026-18648/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation)

This link will take you directly to the official federal docket for the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule.

Docket No.: FS-2025-0001

Step 2: Find the "Comment" button

Once you arrive at the docket page, look for the button that allows you to submit a public comment.

Click "Comment" to begin your submission.

Step 3: Write or paste your comment

You will be taken to a comment submission form.

You can:

  • Write your own comment from scratch;
  • Use the sample template below and personalize it; or
  • Share a specific experience, concern, or perspective in your own words.

We encourage you to personalize your comment whenever possible.

You do not need to address every issue. Focus on the issues that are most relevant to you.

A few ideas for personalizing your comment

Consider including:

Your connection to public lands

  • Where you live or operate your business
  • Whether you use or visit National Forest System lands
  • Whether your business or community depends on outdoor recreation or tourism

Your business perspective

  • How clean water, recreation, fishing, tourism, or public lands affect your business
  • Why responsible management of public assets matters to you
  • How infrastructure costs (flooding/ fire protection) or changes to public lands could affect your business or community

Your own concerns

  • Why you support maintaining the Roadless Rule
  • Concerns about the economic impacts of additional development
  • Why the Forest Service should consider the full costs and benefits before changing the rule

You do not need to be a forestry expert to submit a comment. Your experience and perspective are enough.

Step 4: Submit your comment

Once you are satisfied with your comment, follow the prompts to submit it.

Look for a confirmation that your comment has been successfully submitted.

That's it! Your comment has been submitted directly to the USDA Forest Service.

Why Do Public Comments Matter?

When a federal agency proposes a new rule or changes an existing one, the public has a formal opportunity to weigh in. Your comment becomes part of the official rulemaking record that the Forest Service must review and consider before making a final decision. This is an opportunity to put your experience on the record and tell the Forest Service what is at stake for your business, your community, or the places and resources you depend on.

You do not need to be a policy expert, write a long letter, or address every issue in the proposal. A few clear sentences explaining why the Roadless Rule matters to you can make your comment more meaningful. The most useful comments are often the ones that explain a specific connection, concern, or experience in your own words.

Why Submit Directly?

ASBN is collecting signatures in support of our organizational comment, but signing ASBN’s comment and submitting your own comment directly serve different purposes.

When you add your name to ASBN’s comment, you are showing that you stand with a broader group of businesses calling for the Roadless Rule to be maintained. The more businesses that sign on, the stronger the collective business voice behind our position.

When you submit your own comment through Regulations.gov, you are putting your firsthand perspective directly into the federal record. ASBN can speak to the business community’s overall position, but we cannot speak for your individual experience. Your comment gives the Forest Service a chance to hear, in your own words, why this issue matters to you, your business, or your community.

That is why we encourage you to do both: add your name to the collective business comment, then take a few minutes to make your own voice part of the official record.

What Is the Roadless Rule?

The Roadless Rule protects millions of acres of National Forest System lands from new road construction and limits timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas.

These lands are not simply undeveloped acreage waiting for a future use. They are already providing economic value to businesses, communities, and taxpayers. Roadless areas support economic activity, natural resources, and community resilience in ways that include:

  • Outdoor recreation and tourism, supporting guides, outfitters, lodging, restaurants, retailers, and other local businesses
  • Hunting, fishing, and fisheries, which support recreation economies and rural communities
  • Clean drinking water and healthy watersheds, providing essential natural infrastructure for communities and businesses
  • Flood and wildfire resilience, with healthy forested landscapes helping communities manage risks that can carry significant public and private costs
  • Rural businesses and jobs that depend on the quality and character of surrounding public lands
  • Wildlife habitat and other natural resources that provide ecological, recreational, and economic value

The economic value of these lands does not begin when a road is built, or a new development project is proposed. It already exists. Any decision to change their management should account for the value they provide today, as well as the costs and risks that could come with new development and its maintenance.

The Forest Service is now proposing to rescind the Roadless Rule. Rescission would remove the nationwide protections established by the rule and return more decision-making to individual forest management plans.

Why Is ASBN Concerned?

Protecting Existing Economic Value

Roadless areas are not simply lands that could support economic activity in the future. They are already working assets that provide economic value to businesses, communities, and taxpayers.

A recent analysis estimates that approximately 30 million acres of roadless areas across the contiguous United States provide more than $24 billion in annual public benefits, including clean water, recreation, wildlife habitat, and other ecosystem services. Public lands also support a significant outdoor recreation economy. In 2024, outdoor recreation generated $1.3 trillion in gross output and supported 5.2 million jobs nationally.

That economic activity reaches far beyond recreation itself. Guides and outfitters, lodging providers, restaurants, retailers, and other small businesses in rural communities depend on healthy, accessible, and well-managed public lands. These lands also provide natural infrastructure that helps communities manage flooding, wildfire, and other risks that can carry significant economic costs.

The Forest Service should recognize and protect the economic value roadless areas already provide, rather than treating these lands as valuable only if they are opened to additional development.

Responsible Management of Public Assets

As stewards of public lands, the Forest Service has a responsibility to consider the full costs of new infrastructure and development, not just the potential economic activity they may create.

New roads require ongoing maintenance and repair and may eventually require decommissioning or restoration. The Forest Service already faces a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $8.6 billion, including substantial needs across its existing road and infrastructure network.

Before expanding that network, the Forest Service should ask whether the potential benefits of new roads and development justify the long-term costs to taxpayers. Responsible management means accounting for the full lifecycle of an investment, including costs that may not come due for years or decades.

Clean Water Is Economic Infrastructure

Roadless areas also provide a form of natural infrastructure that businesses and communities depend on every day. Healthy forested watersheds help filter pollutants, reduce sedimentation, regulate water flows, and maintain water quality.

A 2026 peer-reviewed study found that watersheds influenced by Roadless Rule areas support drinking water supplies for approximately 25 million people.

Clean and reliable water is essential economic infrastructure. It supports businesses, agriculture, communities, and local economies, while helping avoid costs associated with degraded water quality and more intensive infrastructure. The economic value of these services should be part of the Forest Service's analysis of what could be lost if roadless protections are removed.

The Full Economic Picture

The Forest Service's analysis should look beyond the potential economic activity that could result from opening roadless areas to additional development.

The question is not simply what new economic activity could be created. It is also what existing economic value could be put at risk and what new costs could be created for businesses, communities, and taxpayers.

A complete economic analysis should account for:

  • Existing businesses and economic activity that depend on roadless lands
  • Outdoor recreation, tourism, and rural economies
  • Clean water, flood resilience, wildfire resilience, and other natural infrastructure benefits
  • Impacts on small businesses and communities
  • The full lifecycle costs of new roads and other infrastructure
  • The long-term costs of maintaining, repairing, decommissioning, or restoring that infrastructure

The Forest Service should not make a decision based on the potential benefits of development without also accounting for the economic value that already exists and the costs that could come with changing these lands.

Sample Comment Template

You can use the template below as a starting point. We encourage you to personalize it with your own perspective.

September XX, 2026

USDA Forest Service
Attn: Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination
201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108
Washington, DC 20250-1124

Submitted via Regulations.gov

Re: Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Rule Regarding Rescission of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Docket No. FS-2025-0001)

Dear Acting Director White:

I am writing to urge the U.S. Forest Service to maintain the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and withdraw the proposal to rescind it.

[Introduce yourself and, if relevant, your business, organization, or community. For example: “I am a small business owner in [State], and my business depends on outdoor recreation and tourism.”]

The Roadless Rule protects millions of acres of National Forest System lands from new road construction and expansion of industries such as mining, timber harvesting, and other extraction industries. These lands are already providing significant economic value to businesses and communities through outdoor recreation, tourism, clean water, fisheries, and other ecosystem services.

[Share how public lands, outdoor recreation, natural resources, clean water, or the health of your local economy affect your business or community. For example, you might describe customers who visit your area for recreation, your business’s reliance on natural flood/fire protection, or how public lands contribute to your local economy.]

I am concerned that rescinding the Roadless Rule focuses too heavily on potential economic opportunities from additional development without fully accounting for the economic value these lands already provide or the long-term costs associated with new infrastructure.

New roads can create ongoing costs for taxpayers, including maintenance, repair, and restoration. Changes to roadless areas can also affect recreation, tourism, water quality, flood and wildfire resilience, and other economic activity that businesses and communities rely on.

[Optional Add a specific concern, experience, or reason you support maintaining the Roadless Rule. This could include concerns about new infrastructure costs, impacts on recreation or tourism, water quality, flooding or wildfire resilience, or changes you have seen in your community.]

The Forest Service should ensure that its analysis considers the full economic picture, including existing economic activity, ecosystem services, impacts on small businesses and rural communities, and the long-term costs of additional infrastructure.

For these reasons, I urge the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and maintain these longstanding protections.

Thank you for considering my comment.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Business/Organization, if applicable]
[City, State]

Make Your Comment Your Own

Your comment does not need to look exactly like this template.

The goal is not to submit as many identical comments as possible. Personal experiences and specific perspectives can help the Forest Service understand how a proposed policy could affect businesses, communities, and people across the country.

Even a few sentences about why this matters to you can make your comment more personal and meaningful.

If you have a story, connection to public lands, or business experience that relates to the Roadless Rule, share it.