Trump Administration Moves to Lift Roadless Rule in Tongass National Forest

Trump administration moves to lift roadbuilding and logging ban

The Trump administration has moved to lift a long-standing administrative rule that has prevented roadbuilding and logging across millions of acres of national forest lands.

According to a report from NPR, this decision targets the “Roadless Rule,” a policy that has governed much of the country’s protected timberlands for decades.

This change affects Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. In Southeast Alaska, roughly half of the Tongass—covering more than 9 million acres—currently has no active roads.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the rollback is intended to provide firefighters with better access to combat wildfires and to remove what officials describe as outdated regulatory barriers. However, local communities and conservationists argue the move is primarily a push to increase national timber production.

Traditional lands face ecological shifts

For the Tlingit people in Southeast Alaska, the forest is more than a resource; it is a foundation for cultural survival. Judith Daxootsu Ramos, a Tlingit anthropologist from Yakutat, notes that the roadless areas support essential traditions, including the harvesting of berries, hunting deer, and the gathering of traditional medicines.

“Without this, we’re going to lose our traditional medicines, our traditional art styles, our traditional foods. And all of that is really connected to the forest,” Ramos said.

Ramos, who sits on the board of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, pointed to the visual and biological changes in areas that have already been logged. She described the trees that regrow in old-growth clearcuts as looking "sterile," noting a lack of birds and animals that leaves the area feeling "quiet" and "scary."

Beyond cultural impacts, critics argue the decision could undermine the Tongass’s role in climate regulation. The forest holds approximately one-third of all carbon stored in intact U.S. national forests.

Economic uncertainty for the timber industry

While the administration views the move as a way to boost industry, some timber advocates suggest the impact may be smaller than expected. Tessa Axelsen, the executive director of the Alaska Forest Association, supports the administration’s action but noted that the volume of available timber may not be enough to solve industry-wide challenges.

The Forest Service has indicated that fewer than 200,000 acres of roadless land in the Tongass might be suitable for logging. Axelsen expressed concern over the volatility of federal policy, noting that the industry faces a constant cycle of change between different presidential administrations.

“When we have the back-and-forth on a four-year cycle, it doesn’t matter which side. It creates so many challenges for our communities,” Axelsen said.

Old growth forest with sitka spruce picea sitchensis and hemlock tsuga tongass national forest southeast alaska

Logistical costs also remain a heavy burden for Alaskan operations. Axelsen noted that the Southeast is at a disadvantage when shipping timber to the Lower 48 because of the high cost of transportation and the necessity of moving timber by boat to mills.

The history of policy reversals

The tension between logging interests and conservation rules is not new. The Trump administration previously attempted to roll back the rule specifically within the Tongass, though these efforts faced opposition. Susan Alexander, a retired Forest Service economist who worked in the Tongass, observed that previous “flip-flopping” under different administrations did not actually lead to increased logging.

Instead, Alexander said, those policy shifts often resulted in wasted resources. The Forest Service spent large sums preparing timber sales that were ultimately cancelled when subsequent administrations rescinded the rules.

According to the Forest Service press office, no timber sales actually occurred in the roadless areas of the Tongass during the previous period when the forest was exempted from the rule by the Trump administration. The agency is expected to finalize the rescission of the Roadless Rule next year.