The U.S. Forest Service will seek to repeal a rule that has effectively blocked the logging of almost a third of America’s national forests, including acreage in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told a meeting of Western governors on June 23 in New Mexico.

The “Roadless Rule” has blocked the construction of new roads in wild areas of most states’ national forests since 2001, when it was imposed in the closing days of President Bill Clinton’s presidency.

“In this administration, we are taking a look under the hood of each and every regulation that affects the everyday lives of the American people, and this rule certainly affects the everyday lives of every single American living in the American West,” Rollins told officials assembled at the Western Governors Association meeting.

“That’s why I’m excited to announce today here with you, for the first time, our intent to repeal the disastrous Roadless Rule. The heavy hand of Washington will no longer inhibit the management of our nation’s forests under the leadership of President Trump,” she said.

Lifting the rule would allow the construction of roads, a needed prerequisite for development and logging, in significant parts of the Tongass, the largest remaining temperate rainforest on Earth. Ninety-two percent of the Tongass is considered a roadless area.

“There’s no doubt about it, we are continuing to be aggressive in our efforts to increase American timber production in line with President Trump’s agenda,” Rollins said.

Rollins’ announcement was criticized by environmental groups, who vowed to oppose it.

“Secretary Rollins is taking a blowtorch to a landmark rule that shields almost 60 million acres of national forests from the serious impacts roads can have, not only on wildlife and their habitats but also on the nation’s drinking water sources,” said Vera Smith, director of national forests and lands for Defenders of Wildlife, a national group.

The Roadless Rule has been the subject of lawsuits for decades, particularly in Alaska, where most of the California-sized Tongass is covered by the rule.

Republican presidents have sought to reduce or eliminate the rule and have been opposed in court by environmental groups. Democratic presidents have sought to keep the rule and have been opposed by logging and development trade groups.

“What Secretary Rollins pledged today was to rescind the whole Roadless Rule, the whole enchilada,” said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at the law firm Earthjustice.

More than 96% of roadless areas are located in 12 Western states, and Alaska alone has almost 15 million acres of roadless area, mostly in Southeast Alaska, but also in the Chugach National Forest near Anchorage.

Idaho, which has the second-largest amount of roadless Forest Service land, is already exempted from the Roadless Rule, as is Colorado. Idaho and Colorado have state-specific rules that supersede the federal rule.

Montana, the No. 3 roadless state, has more than 6 million acres of roadless forest.

“They are the wildest lands on the National Forest System, de facto wilderness. And the only reason to rescind the Roadless Rule is if you want to undermine the wild character of these lands by invading the wilderness,” Caputo said.

Rollins, speaking in New Mexico, said she believes that rescinding the rule would allow the Forest Service and other organizations to more efficiently fight fires in national forests and allow timber cutting that could reduce fire danger.

In Southeast Alaska, the Tongass National Forest is a rainforest and isn’t subject to significant wildfire danger. Rescinding the Roadless Rule there would directly allow new mines and logging.

The proposal drew immediate pushback from regional conservationists.

“The Tongass National Forest is our home — it sustains our communities, supports our fisheries, our recreation and tourism economy, provides critical climate change mitigation, and nourishes the deer and salmon we rely on for sustenance,” said Maggie Rabb, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, in a written statement.

“Opening up more of the Tongass to large-scale, clearcut logging is an existential threat to the authentic values of the forest and our Southeast Alaska ways of life,” Rabb added.

SEACC and a collection of environmental, tourism and tribal groups are currently fighting a lawsuit that seeks to reverse the Roadless Rule in the Tongass.

The lead plaintiff in that suit is the Alaska Forest Association, a logging trade group whose leadership praised the new plan.

“The Alaska Forest Association applauds the decision to repeal the Roadless Rule,” said Tessa Axelson, the association’s director.

“The rule has contributed to the decline of the timber industry in Southeast Alaska for over 20 years, and more importantly, limited critical access for project development and mining that can and should support rural community needs, decrease energy costs, and power the economy of Alaska, and the United States,” Axelson said in an email provided by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the Forest Association in its lawsuit.

The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com.