The Tongass National Forest, the largest temperate rainforest in North America, has been the target of exploiters for decades. Under the current profit-mad regime it once again has put in the crosshairs of loggers once again. Under a proposed rule published by the US Forest Service, the Tongass would be exempted from the roadless rule which prohibits road building in inventoried, untouched forest. 9.2 million acres of roadless forest would be open to logging including 165,000 acres of old growth. Road building is the first step toward degrading natural habitat. The Tongass provides critical habitat for brown bear, salmon, and Sitka black tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis). Since 2001 the Roadless Rule has protected untouched forest from logging exploitation in the United States. The rule is a regulation, not statutory. Attempts have been made to codify the rule into statutory law (S.1311/H.R.2491), but given the deadlocked imposed by reactionary handmaidens of industry in the Senate the codification has stalled in committee.The Service has opted for the most industry friendly option out of six--complete exemption for the Tongass--contained in the draft environmental impact statement accompanying the proposed rule change. The change was required by the exploiter-in-chief the Mad King. President Clinton imposed protections on half of the forest shortly before leaving office. In 2016 the Forest Service was prepared to lay the issue of logging the Tongass to rest by phasing out old growth logging within a decade and designating more than 5.7 million acres as wilderness. The roadless rule still allows some development projects to go ahead. In the Tongass roadless area the Forest Service has approved some 55 development projects. Developers complain that the rule imposes a regulatory approval process that is expensive, time consuming, and sometimes arbitrary.
