WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Tuesday proposed allowing logging on more than half of Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America.
President Donald Trump instructed federal officials to reverse long-standing limits on tree cutting at the request of Alaska’s top elected officials, on the grounds that it will boost the local economy. But critics say that protections under the “roadless rule,” finalized just before President Bill Clinton left office in 2001, are critical to protecting the region’s lucrative salmon fishery and tourism operations.
The U.S. Forest Service said it would publish a draft environmental impact statement this week that, if enacted, would exempt the Tongass from the 2001 roadless rule.
The Post first reported the president’s plan to expand logging in the Tongass in August. The U.S. Forest Service had initially planned to make more modest changes to nearly 9.5 million acres there where roads are prohibited: Under the administration’s “preferred alternative,” that entire area would be open for development.
Congress has designated another 5.7 million acres of the forest as wilderness, which must remain off limits to such activities under any circumstances.
Tongass, which lies in southeast Alaska, is home to massive old growth stands and provides habitat for a range of wildlife. Roughly 40 percent of wild salmon that swim along the West Coast spawn in the Tongass, generating a fishery that the Forest Service estimates is worth $986 million a year.
The agency said in a statement that the Tongass — which ranks as the single largest holding in the federal forest system — covers 80 percent of the land along the 500-mile Southeast Alaska Panhandle. “It is rich in natural resources and cultural heritage,” the statement said.
While President George W. Bush sought to reverse Clinton’s roadless policy in the Tongass in 2003, a federal judge reinstated it in 2011, and the decision was upheld on appeal.
In a statement, Forest Service officials said the plan — which lists five other alternatives, which include greater restrictions on logging — will be subject to public comment for 60 days. Those comments “will inform the department” as Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue “moves toward a final decision,” an official added.
But Trump, who has spoken with Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy, a Republican, multiple times on the subject, has asked Perdue to exempt the Tongass from logging limits, according to multiple federal officials.
Alaska’s entire congressional delegation, all of whom are Republican, have also asked Trump to expand development in the Tongass. While the Forest Service has approved at least 55 projects in roadless areas, including 36 for mining and 10 related to the power sector, lawmakers said that permitting had imposed unnecessary delays.
“As Alaskans know well, the Roadless Rule hinders our ability to responsibly harvest timber, develop minerals, connect communities, or build energy projects to lower costs — including renewable energy projects like hydropower, all of which severely impedes the economy of Southeast,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, in a statement.
