The Trump administration is moving to scrap a decades-old safeguard that kept huge stretches of national forests largely untouched. A new US Forest Service proposal that was advanced on Tuesday would overturn the 2001 "roadless rule," clearing the way for road-building and logging on about 45 million acres, including 9 million undeveloped acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, reports the New York Times.
Backers, including Republican officials and industry groups, frame the shift as overdue forest management that will boost logging, mining, and infrastructure while helping firefighters reach blazes. Environmental groups and many ecologists counter that the plan targets some of the nation's last intact forests, threatens wildlife habitat and drinking water, and may actually raise wildfire risks by bringing more people and invasive species into remote areas. The proposal is expected to be published in the Federal Register this week, followed by a public comment phase. Lawsuits to block the move are expected.
- Pro: "For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities," said Brooke Rollins, secretary of the Agriculture Department, in a statement.
- Opposed: "By ripping protections from some of our oldest intact forests, the Trump administration is endangering the drinking water supplies of tens of millions and threatening wildlife habitats and recreation opportunities in almost every state," said Drew McConville of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research organization. A post at EarthJutisice.org rounds up more criticism.
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