The Trump administration is moving to allow logging on more than half of a huge 16.7 million-acre rainforest in Alaska.
The Interior Department’s National Forest Service issued a proposed rule Tuesday that would exempt the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule, a conservation policy set in the Clinton administration which established prohibitions on road construction and timber harvesting on National Forest System lands.
Alaska’s Republican-controlled government had petitioned the Trump administration to allow logging — or tree-cutting — in the Tongass National Forest to boost the local economy.
“This is important for a wide array of local stakeholders as we seek to create sustainable economies in Southeast Alaska,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
But Democrats and environmentalists say the move would threaten clean water and wildlife habitats in the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America. Taking down trees in the forest would weaken its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, which helps combat climate change.
“Weakening protections for one of the most important ecosystems our planet has left is a colossal mistake, and this Committee has questions about how this decision was made that this administration should prepare to answer,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, the Democratic chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “We need to protect places like the Tongass so future generations can enjoy them unspoiled.”
The Forest Service also proposed five other alternatives that keep more protections against logging in the rainforest, but it highlighted its “preferred” option that would remove 9.2 million acres currently exempted by the Roadless Rule to allow development.
The public can provide comment on the proposal until Dec. 17 before the Forest Service finalizes its plan.
