From the Washington Post
The Biden administration on Wednesday restored protections for more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, safeguarding one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests from new roads and logging.
As Timothy Puko reports, the Tongass is a relatively pristine expanse in the state’s southeast that has been the focus of a long fight between environmentalists and Alaskan timber interests. State leaders had persuaded the Trump administration in 2020 to open it up to new roads and logging, reversing protections dating to the Clinton era, in a bid to boost economic development.
Biden restores protections for Tongass National Forest after Trump rollback
Biden restores the ‘roadless rule’
Biden administration officials said Wednesday the forest is too important to wildlife habitat — especially fish — and to fighting climate change to go without protections. Its decision, through the Agriculture Department, will repeal the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule, now making it illegal again for logging companies to build roads and cut and remove timber throughout more than 9.3 million acres of forest.
The rule is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Friday and goes into effect immediately.
Read more on this order here.
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