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 Biden administration announced June 11 intentions to reinstate protections for Tongass National Forest. It’s the latest twist in a long-running battle over logging and other development on federal lands in Southeast Alaska.
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“This is not about extraction of resources. This is about every single economic sector meeting having unique needs for the forest, and we need a management plan that can reflect that,” Southeast Conference Executive Director Robert Venables said.
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The Ketchikan City Council voted 6-1 Thursday to spend $5,000 on legal work to intervene in federal court.
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The Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2021 mirrors past bills. But with the U.S. Senate slated to change hands, the legislation has better prospects than previous efforts.
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A coalition including environmental groups, tribes and fishermen filed a 50-page lawsuit on Wednesday to restore Roadless Rule protections to 9 million acres of Tongass National Forest.
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A federal watchdog agency says the U.S. Forest Service acted illegally when it awarded a $2 million firefighting grant to the state of Alaska in 2018.
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