The deadline to submit public comment on a proposed plan to repeal the Roadless Rule has been extended.
The Roadless Rule is a 2001 environmental conservation law that protects 45 million acres of national forests across the country from logging, including over nine million acres of the Tongass. Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture filed a plan to repeal it. The agency said in a press release that the rule is a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work. The rescission would increase logging opportunities, aligning with the Trump administration’s goals to increase natural resource extraction in Alaska.
That set off a 30-day federally mandated public comment period, allowing the public to submit feedback on the plan, which will be used in developing final rulings and environmental analyses. The public comment period was initially scheduled to end Sept. 21. That deadline has now been pushed to Oct. 6.
The new public comment deadline is now after federally mandated subsistence hearings that are scheduled for later this month. Subsistence hearings are legally required under ANILCA, or the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, to evaluate impacts on subsistence uses. They are required if proposed plans are expected to significantly restrict subsistence practices in the project area — like in the Tongass and the Chugach National Forests.
The testimony at these hearings will be included in the record and considered for the final ruling.
There are two in-person subsistence hearings scheduled in Alaska, including one in Ketchikan on Sept. 29 at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center from 5-7 p.m. And another is scheduled for Oct. 1 in Anchorage at the Loussac Library from 5-7 p.m. Two statewide virtual hearings are scheduled for Sept. 30. More information on those hearings can be found on the Forest Service website.
