Tongass in Alaska to get federal roadless protection

The federal rule protecting the nation's last remaining stretches of roadless wilderness will apply now to the largest and grandest of the national forests under a court ruling in Alaska, which threw out the exemption granted to the Tongass National Forest. Ruling in Anchorage, U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick invalidated an exemption crafted under the Bush administration that had been intended to boost the crippled timber industry in Southeast Alaska by allowing access to stands of timber in remote sections of the forest. Regulations protecting many of the nation's roadless areas, originally put forward under the administration of President Bill Clinton, have been batted back and forth in the courts for years. A special exemption was carved out for the Tongass National Forest, which had a management plan in place protecting much of its remaining old-growth trees and guaranteeing a supply of timber to the region's dying timber industry. But conservationists argued there was plenty of timber available, and some of the other justifications for exempting the forest from roadless area protections were unnecessary. The judge agreed, rejecting, for example, the assertion that applying the roadless rule in Southeast Alaska could result in the loss of 900 jobs. The rule itself contained provisions for a "smooth transition for forest-dependent communities," the judge noted. "The Forest Service's explanation that temporarily exempting the Tongass from the Roadless Rule was necessary to prevent significant job losses is not supported by the evidence," the judge said. Likewise, he said, the exemption "did not provide any evidence in support of its bald assertion that the Roadless Rule significantly limits the ability of communities in Southeast Alaska to develop road and utility connections."...more

You can read the decision here.