Press Release: SEACC prepares to fight Trump administration move to rescind Roadless protections

Written by SEACC

January 21, 2025

(Juneau, Alaska / Áakʼw Ḵwáan Territory) With the Trump administration’s announcement of sweeping executive orders at the start of his second term, Roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest are once again under attack, despite their overwhelming popularity.

Under section 3(c) of the executive order titled Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, the administration states its goal:

“In addition to the actions outlined in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall place a temporary moratorium on all activities and privileges authorized by the final rule and record of decision entitled  “Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands in Alaska,” 88 Fed. Reg. 5252 (January 27, 2023), in order to review such rule and record of decision in light of alleged legal deficiencies and for consideration of relevant public interests and, as appropriate, conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of such deficiencies, interests, and environmental impacts.  Further, the Secretary of Agriculture shall reinstate the final rule entitled “Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands in Alaska,” 85 Fed. Reg.68688 (October 29, 2020).”

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, a regional conservation group dedicated to protecting the lands and waters of Southeast Alaska since 1970, has fought for decades now for Roadless protections on the Tongass, through grassroots action and litigation. 

Originally promulgated in January 2001, the Roadless Rule protected 58.5 million acres of America’s National Forests, including 9 million acres in the Tongass. As presidential administrations have shifted from party to party, the Roadless Rule has faced attempts to rescind its protections, followed by reinstatement — never without a fight.

During the first Trump administration, a Freedom of Information Act request showed that 96 percent of comments submitted to the US Forest Service were in favor of maintaining the Roadless Rule protections.  

That support continues.

“Our way of life is the land and the water,” said Joel Jackson, President of the Organized Village of Kake. “It’s so important to keep those old growth trees in place because it enables our people to continue our traditional, customary way of life. We’ve always been the people of the Tongass, growing up depending on the old growth forests because it’s very important to our way of life.” 

The importance of old growth for communities in Southeast Alaska is widely understood, particularly for Indigenous communities.

“It goes to the health of our people as tribal people, as our food supplies and our culture and the old growth trees that are around here,” said Sajúu júu Mike Jones, President of the Organized Village of Kasaan. “And there’s not very much of it left and we need to be thinking generations into the future.” 

SEACC is committed to continuing its advocacy for Roadless protections, as it has for years, most recently in the form of legal opposition to the State of Alaska’s suit against the USFS opposing the reinstatement of Roadless protections under the Biden administration in 2023. 

“We’re ready for what comes,” said Nathan Newcomer, SEACC Federal Campaigns Manager. “SEACC has a long history of fighting for the Tongass. We know what we’re fighting for is what’s best for the region and, no matter what the Trump administration might claim, we know it’s what the people of Southeast Alaska want.”

The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the US, covering roughly 17 million acres, though not all of that is forest; extensive logging has impacted more than a million acres of old-growth forest over the past several decades.

In recent years, logging on the Tongass has been more limited, with other commercial uses like tourism proving more lucrative. A study released in 2020 by the independent, nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense found that the Forest Service lost $16.1 million on Tongass timber sales in fiscal year 2019, and $1.7 billion over the past four decades. Despite all the tax dollars spent supporting the timber industry, it now contributes less than 1 percent to Southeast Alaska’s regional economy. 

While SEACC does not oppose all old-growth timber harvesting, the small, local mills and artists whose products and creations bring value to local communities are able to access the timber needed with Roadless protections in place. 

“What makes sense here is a selective, sustainable approach,” said Gordon Chew, owner of Tenakee Logging Co. “Mass extraction on the Tongass isn’t the right direction. The last time this happened, the big companies weren’t lining up.”

Contact: communications@seacc.org

This film features Alaskan voices speaking to the importance of old growth protections on the Tongass.

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