The Biden administration has overturned a Trump-era rollback of logging and road-building restrictions in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, reimposing curbs that tribal and environmental groups have reacted to with glee but Alaska’s governor and other local politicians have panned as a blow to the region’s economic development.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Jan. 25 that it had issued a final rule that repeals the Trump-era 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule, reimposing economic activity restrictions over nearly 9.4 million acres of roadless areas of what is the largest forest in the United States.
USDA spokesman Larry Moore said that the new rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Jan. 27, a move that would give it legal effect and formally repeal the Trump-era decision that exempted the Tongass from the so-called roadless rule….