By The Associated Press
and Sitka Sentinel Staff
The Biden administration moved today to reinstate protections in the Tongass National Forest and to “repeal or replace” the previous administration’s decision to exempt the Tongass from the 2001 Roadless Rule.
The Roadless Rule protected 9.2 million acres of National Forest land in Southeast Alaska from a range of industrial activities such as logging and mining. The Trump Administration exempted the Tongass from the Roadless Rule at the behest of the state’s congressional delegation and governor in October 2020.
As published on a federal regulatory site today, the plan follows up on an executive order the president signed on his first day in office in January. The aim of that order, the site says, is “protecting public health and the environment and restoring science to tackle the climate crisis.”
Agency heads under this executive order are reviewing Trump Administration policies and will “take action to address the promulgation of federal regulations and other actions during the last four years that conflict with these important national objectives, and to immediately commence work to confront the climate crisis,” Biden’s January 20 executive order reads.
For Sitka Conservation Society Policy Director Katie Riley the president’s decision highlighted the effect of Sitkans’ advocacy.
“The Biden Administration’s decision to ‘repeal or replace’ the full exemption shows us the power of our community to come together to advocate for our way of life and the health of the natural environment that we depend on,” Riley said in a text message to the Sentinel.
The value of the Tongass is measured in fish, carbon, and culture, she said.
“Sitkans came out in force to defend Roadless protections for the Tongass over the past three years, and an array of subsistence harvesters, fishermen, business owners, recreators, youth, and community members made it clear that the future of the Tongass is in the fish it produces, the carbon it sequesters, the cultural heritage it supports, and the experiences it provides for visitors and locals alike,” Riley wrote.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced his opposition to the policy change in a statement on Twitter.
“Disappointed in the (Administration’s) latest suppression of AK economic opportunity. From tourism to timber, Alaska’s great Tongass National Forest holds much opportunity for Alaskans but the federal government wishes to see Alaskans suffer at the lack of jobs and prosperity,” Dunleavy tweeted this morning.
Today’s notice indicates that regulatory action on the Roadless Rule will begin in August.
Meredith Trainor, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council in Juneau, said those who supported keeping Roadless Rule provisions in place for the Tongass “heartily encourage the administration to put this thing to bed by repealing the Trump rule once and for all.”
Josh Hicks, senior campaign manager with The Wilderness Society, in a statement said forests are “highly effective at sequestering carbon and, if left standing, are one of the strongest natural solutions to combating the climate crisis.”
Speaking for Greenpeace, Katie Nelson said Biden’s move is essential to preserve the Tongass.
“This announcement is a remarkably positive step forward for the Biden administration and we hope that they will fully restore the Roadless Rule as soon as possible,” Nelson wrote in an email. “As some of the last and largest remaining tracts of intact temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass National Forest is irreplaceable. Destructive development in the country’s largest national forest — such as logging and expansive road building — would be catastrophic for generations to come, harming wildlife, emitting climate harming pollution and curbing our natural ability to sequester and store carbon. Now more than ever, we need codified forest protections to protect our most stunning natural heritage and mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”
Last May, as the process to exempt the state from the Roadless Rule was underway, the U.S. Forest Service released a summary of public comments on the proposed exemption.
All told, 96 percent of the 267,000 letters and comments received were in favor of keeping the Roadless Rule in place in the Tongass, and one percent supported exempting it from the rule, the summary report said. Testimony at a 2020 USFS hearing in Sitka was solidly opposed to the Trump Administration’s plan to end Roadless Rule protections.
In his January executive order, Biden called for a review of agency actions during the Trump administration that could be at odds with the new president’s environmental priorities. The U.S. Forest Service falls under the Agriculture Department.
The Tongass is the country’s largest national forest, and in a statement Matt Herrick, an Agriculture Department spokesperson, said the Trump administration decision “did not align with the overwhelming majority of public opinion across the country and among Alaskans.”
“Future decisions about the role of the Tongass National Forest should continue to reflect the best interests of Alaskans and the country as a whole,” Herrick said.
