SEACC

The national Roadless Rule was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 2001 and was met with overwhelming public support. It granted protections from development for over 50 million acres of roadless areas across the country, including 9.3 million acres of the Tongass.

Alaska’s out-of-touch elected leadership, however, have opposed it from the start. Most recently, when President Donald Trump was elected, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy met with him privately on Air Force One in 2019 to talk about exempting Alaska from the Roadless Rule, according to The Washington Post. A few months later, the Trump administration’s U.S. Forest Service announced it was considering fully removing Roadless Rule protections from the Tongass.

Southeast Alaskans immediately sprang into action to protest this drastic change, which would make it easier to clearcut vast swaths of old-growth trees and build new logging roads, thus threatening essential salmon and wildlife habitat and Southeast’s fishing and tourism economy.

Southeast Alaskans made their wishes known loud, clear and en masse in public meetings, forums and comments: The Tongass needs Roadless Rule protections.