A two-month comment period is open as the Biden administration says it’s pivoting from commercial logging to tourism and fisheries as key to economic development for Southeast Alaska’s federal forestlands. Alaska’s elected leaders have called the restrictions federal overreach that could hinder resource extraction and hurt the region’s economy.
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The Biden administration says it’s taking formal steps to restore Roadless Rule protections to more than half of the Tongass National Forest. It’s the latest turn in decades of fighting over access to Southeast Alaska’s federal forestlands for logging, energy and mining.
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The cost of keeping an idled Alaska ferry at the dock is nearly twice as much as reported to the public and state lawmakers. Yet prospective buyers, including one that would use it to fight piracy, have had their calls go unanswered.
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The governor’s chief of staff says the Dunleavy administration is working to leverage federal infrastructure dollars to revitalize the Alaska Marine Highway System. Federal dollars have helped the state forward fund the ferry for 18 months, though Dunleavy vetoed about $8.5 million of the state’s appropriation earlier this summer.
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