Governor Sean Parnell and Attorney General John Burns have directed the Department of Law to file a legal challenge to the Roadless Rule adopted in 2001 by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The Roadless Rule prohibited local and regional control over decisions about road construction, reconstruction and timber harvest on roughly 58.5 million acres of national forest lands.

As the latest step in a complex history of litigation, a March 2011 Federal District Court ruling set aside a Tongass National Forest exemption and reinstated the application of the Roadless Rule in the Alaska Forest. A 2003 administrative ruling had previously blocked the rule’s implementation in the Tongass.

“Applying the Roadless Rule to national forest lands in Alaska diminishes jobs and hurts families, and removes local and regional management of the forests from the state, communities, residents, and foresters,” Governor Parnell said. “This is the wrong time for the Forest Service to further restrict timber supply, new mining jobs and development, and impose higher energy costs on communities. Our forests are best managed for multiple uses including mining or logging, which require construction of roads. A one-size-fits-all forest mandate from Washington, D.C. is the wrong approach.”

If allowed to stand, the Roadless Rule will increase costs for developing hydroelectric projects by prohibiting roads along transmission line routes for construction and maintenance. Those increased costs would be passed along to consumers.

“As Federal District Court Judge Brimmer already found in the roadless case in Wyoming, procedure counts,” Attorney General Burns said. “The Roadless Rule and the rushed manner in which it was adopted violates several federal statutes, including the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the National Environmental Policy Act, and other federal statutes. It creates de facto wilderness without the approval of Congress.”

The State of Alaska also filed a notice of appeal of the Federal District Court decision that the Tongass exemption was invalid. Judge Sedwick ruled that the Forest Service violated the APA by changing the status of the Tongass from not exempt to exempt without providing adequate reasons.

The state maintains that the Forest Service provided a substantial examination during the Tongass exemption decision. The record shows extensive discussion about the settlement with the state, the direction provided to the USFS by Congress in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Tongass Timber Reform Act.

ANILCA provides that administration agencies may not withdraw more Alaska land for wilderness without the approval of Congress. The Tongass Timber Reform Act mandates that the Forest Service must seek to meet timber demand from the Tongass, while the Roadless Rule makes that impossible.

Meanwhile, Senator Mark Begich and Congressman Don Young recently introduced legislation to repeal the Roadless Rule in Alaska’s national forests. Senator Lisa Murkowski co-sponsored the Senate measure.

“This cookie-cutter rule is a bad fit for Alaska,” Begich said. “With high unemployment and high energy costs in Southeast Alaska, the Forest Service needs greater flexibility to address these issues. Repealing the rule will help keep the few existing mills alive and allow for the development of hydro projects throughout the region as well as two promising mining projects on Prince of Wales Island. Instead of adding options, the roadless rule takes them away.”

“As we have seen time and time again, the one-size-fits-all approach rarely ever applies to Alaska,” said Congressman Don Young. “The economic well-being and way of life for many Alaskans relies on responsible resource development and this legislation will ensure that this rule doesn’t harm Alaska more than it already has. Over the last few decades I have watched the timber industry go from thousands of jobs to nothing; we cannot allow the government to decimate this area more than they already have. This legislation is an economic necessity so that Alaskans may start to responsibly develop our resources in these areas again.”

“The roadless rule never made sense for Alaska since 96 percent of the Tongass and 99 percent of the Chugach are already protected by ANILCA and forest management plans,” Murkowski said. “Exempting the Tongass from the roadless rule will help make certain that what little remains of the timber industry in Southeast can survive long enough for the Forest Service to implement its second-growth harvest policy. The exemption will also ensure that hydropower and other affordable energy projects in Southeast can move forward.”

As implemented, the rule prohibits new roads in inventoried roadless areas and prohibits most timber harvest in these areas. The March court decision reinstating the rule effectively places 300,000 acres of inventoried roadless area in which logging would have been allowed under the Tongass Land Management Plan off limits to development.

The legislation introduced last month would prevent use of the rule in planning and decision making for Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass National Forests.

Alaska’s two national forests are the nation’s largest. The Tongass is 17 million acres, covering an area the size of West Virginia. The Chugach National Forest is 5.4 million acres.

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