Newsweek: Trump to Lift Logging Restrictions in America's Largest National Forest:
The Trump administration is looking to remove a 20-year-old set of logging restrictions covering the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, according to reports.
Tongass—located in the southeast of the state—is the largest national forest in the United States encompassing 16.7 million acres.
In 2001, the Clinton administration introduced the so-called "Roadless Rule" which put limitations on logging and road construction across the country. But The Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump has directed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to lift these restrictions at Tongass so that the forest is exempt from these rules, citing three sources who were briefed privately on the issue.
The latest moves could potentially open up more than half of Tongass—the world's largest intact temperate rain forest—to logging, mining and energy projects, environmental groups warn.