Alaska Region

The Roadless Rule in Alaska: Settlement of the State of Alaska Lawsuit

On January 12, 2001 the Forest Service published a final rule for roadless area conservation, known as the roadless rule, which generally prohibits commercial timber harvest and road construction within inventoried roadless areas on national forests.

The State of Alaska and six other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging the application of the roadless rule in Alaska. On June 10, 2003 the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice entered into an agreement with the State of Alaska settling that lawsuit.

In response to that agreement, two notices were published in the Federal Register on July 15, 2003 requesting comment on 1) a proposal to amend the roadless rule for the Tongass National Forest and 2) an advance notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the long-term applicability of the roadless rule to both the Tongass and Chugach national forests in Alaska.

On December 30, 2003 after analysis of current conditions in Southeast Alaska and public comment on the proposal, the Department amended the roadless rule so that actions on the Tongass National Forest are not subject to the prohibitions in the roadless rule.