Comment from Evelyne Peterson

A month ago I visited my 15th National Park and once again was reminded why protecting these spaces (and maintaining them for hiking, camping, climbing and enjoying is so important. These are some of the greatest spaces in the USA. Therefore, I am spending my morning commenting here. In short, I am writing to oppose any revision to NPS: “the National Park Service’s wilderness stewardship policy under Director’s Order 41” that would weaken protection for wilderness study areas, lands with wilderness characteristics, or recommended, proposed, and eligible wilderness. We should not be stripping away more protections and assistance. These policies aren’t as simple as the phrase “non-binding guidance” makes them sound. They carry out the agencies’ duty, rooted in the Wilderness Act and the statutes governing these lands, to keep wild and roadless country managed so as not to impair its suitability for wilderness designation until Congress decides its fate. They hold a finite inheritance of wild land intact so that a future Congress can retain the option to protect it permanently. Once roads, motorized use, or logging are admitted into these places, the wilderness character that makes them eligible is destroyed, and no future Congress can vote it back. The loss is permanent in a way that almost nothing in public lands policy ever is. My other concern is that the agency has offered no reasoned justification for reversing decades of settled protection. I ask that the existing standards be preserved in full, with no revisions that lower the standard of care for these lands, and that our wild lands continue to be protected as they have been. Let us all have the opportunity to hike, camp and enjoy these spaces for years to come.