Trump Administration Moves to Roll Back Popular Roadless Rule, Threatening Alaska’s Tongass, Chugach, and National Forests Nationwide
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 27, 2025
Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org
Trump Administration Moves to Roll Back Popular Roadless Rule, Threatening Alaska’s Tongass, Chugach, and National Forests Nationwide
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a sweeping attack on America’s public lands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the start of a rulemaking process to dismantle the Roadless Rule—a bedrock conservation law that has protected nearly 58 million acres of pristine national forest land since 2001—with just three weeks for the public to comment.
If repealed, the rollback would open the door to destructive logging, mining, and drilling roads across the United States, including Alaska’s iconic Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Alaska is home to 15 million acres of National Forest that would be impacted by this rulemaking.
“No public lands are safe from the Trump administration, not even Alaska’s globally significant forests,” said Andy Moderow, Senior Director of Policy at Alaska Wilderness League. “Rolling back the Roadless Rule means bulldozing taxpayer-funded roads into irreplaceable old growth forest, and favoring short-term industry profits over long-term, sustainable forest uses. The Roadless Rule is one of the most effective, commonsense conservation protections in U.S. history. Scrapping it would sacrifice Alaska’s public lands to the highest bidder.”
Together, the Tongass and Chugach represent some of the largest intact temperate rainforests on Earth, storing massive amounts of carbon, supporting Alaska’s fishing and tourism economies, and sustaining vibrant Indigenous cultures that have depended on them for millennia.
In recent decades, the Roadless Rule has helped slow wasteful and damaging road construction in the Tongass specifically, where past administrations have tried to prop up the failing industrial logging industry in the region through road subsidies.
The Roadless Rule has long seen broad support from the American people. The rule prevents new roadbuilding in undisturbed backcountry areas, protecting clean drinking water, critical wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities that millions of Americans rely on. Despite this popularity, the Trump administration is siding with special interests at the expense of the public good.
Opening these areas to development would not only devastate ecosystems but also burden taxpayers. The Forest Service already maintains more than 380,000 miles of roads—a system larger than the U.S. Interstate Highway System—triggering a maintenance backlog that has ballooned to billions in needed repairs. More roads mean more taxpayer liability, more wildfire risk, and more damage to salmon streams and clean water sources.
For Alaska, the stakes are even higher. The Tongass—often called “America’s Climate Forest”—is one of the most powerful natural climate solutions we have, absorbing and storing more carbon than any other U.S. forest. The Chugach provides vital habitat for salmon, bears, and eagles, while supporting thriving outdoor recreation industries in Southcentral Alaska.
A diverse coalition of business owners, hunters and anglers, tribal governments, scientists, and outdoor recreationists has already voiced strong opposition to rescinding the rule. Today’s announcement signals that the administration is willing to ignore them—and the will of the American people—in order to give away public lands to extractive industries.
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Photo Credit: Dave Shreffler