Comment from Millbrooke, Anne

Thank you for the opportunity to comment! Public participation in public matters is a basic right in any democracy, and it is a right protected in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, such as right to free speech and right to protest. It is a right and a joy to participate in this matter. First and foremost, I strongly support the Wilderness Act, Wilderness Areas, and Wilderness Study Areas. Wilderness designation is this country's gold standard of conservation. Second, wilderness is good! Wilderness designation provides legal protection for watersheds, wildlife, fish, birds, insects, and the entire menagerie collectively called biodiversity. Third, wilderness naturally sequesters carbon and cleans our atmosphere, the air. That too is good. Fourth, Congress has delayed too long in completing the process of turning Wilderness Study Areas and other lands with wilderness characteristics into formally designated Wilderness. Please, for your sake, my sake, and the sake of generations following us, please make the strong recommendation for Congress to grant full wilderness status and protection — without of weaselly exceptions and grandfather clauses — to all existing Wilderness Study Areas and addto the wilderness system existing lands with wilderness characteristics. Fifth, in the crude terminology masking the real values of wilderness, wilderness supports the economy - at the national, state, and local level. There are so many studies showing the economical value of a clean and healthy environment that I think everyone should know this, but it is obviously necessary to point it out in the current profiteering political climate. Sixth, untrammeled, free from mechanized civilization and motorized contraptions (the list of existing and emerging thrill toys and tools is frightening) are keys to letting natural processes proceed free from human manipulation and monetization. Let nature reign supreme in wilderness areas. Seventh, roadless areas are so small on the scale of this nation as to be an embarrassment. Every one of them needs effective protection from roadbuilding, regardless of excuse (forest treatment, logging, mining, local economic development, grazing, etc. - all nothing but profiteering excuses). Eighth, wilderness designation does not exclude anyone. It allows anyone to roam as people have done throughout millennia. It simply excludes mechanized tools and toys. Ninth, there are enough trails already in wilderness areas. There is no need to build new trails, paths, dirt access lanes, and certainly not roads. Concentrated recreation areas OUTSIDE of and away from wilderness areas can handle crowds as well as the mechanized and motorized items that people find convenient or thrilling. Tenth, I love wilderness. The idea and reality are part of our national heritage as well as a part of our presence, and I hope our future. Again, thank you for this opportunity to comment.