USDA favors exemption of Roadless Rule in the Tongass

Representatives from the United State Forest Service presented a draft environmental impact statement at a public meeting last week that listed a full exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest as the preferred alternative.

In Jan. 2018, then Gov. Bill Walker submitted a petition to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting that Alaska be exempted from 2001 Roadless Rule, according to Dave Schmid, regional forester for the Alaska region. Perdue instead asked the USFS to craft a state specific Roadless Rule for Alaska. An advisory group held meetings in 17 communities...