Experts warned of irreparable harm following Trump’s plan to pull logging ban in U.S

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The administration of Donald Trump is proposing to lift longstanding restrictions in a move on logging in part of southeast Alaska known as “America’s Amazon”. Experts have indicated that it would threaten wildlife and the environment. The U.S Department of Agriculture manages federal forests, has recommended exempting Alaska’s Tongass national forest from Clinton-era rules that banned logging, road-building, and mining in undeveloped forests, and covering 9.2 million acres, or 55% of the Tongass. Its size is similar to the state of West Virginia. The Tongass is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world and the biggest forest preserve in the United States. The proposal is a part of Trump’s major policy of rolling back environmental regulations in order to boost the industry.

The conservation groups opposed the move and claimed that Alaska’s representatives have sold out their electorate. The public lands director at the Centre for Biological Diversity, Randi Spivak said in a statement. The statement says, “Alaska’s elected officials are selling out their constituents and robbing future generations by trying to strip protections from one of the most pristine old-growth forests in the world“. Alaska is already experiencing the effects of climate change. The clear-cutting remaining old-growth trees in the Tongass national forest would release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and make things worse. The statement added, “This disastrous plan would smother vital wild salmon streams with sediment and irreparable harm subsistence hunters. It’s wrong to put private profits ahead of the health and future of Alaskans”.

The proposal of the U.S Department of Agriculture will be subject to a 60-day public comment period after it is published in the Federal Register later this week. It will mark a victory for Alaska state officials who petitioned for the change, after its adoption. It is noteworthy that Alaska’s 3-member congressional delegation said in a joint statement in favor of scrapping the ban. Governor Mike Dunleavy and Senator Lisa Murkowski have said the 2001 logging ban has cost Alaskans jobs by limiting opportunities for the development of industries such as timber, mining, tourism, and energy. They said, “The U.S Forest Service has a multi-use mandate for its lands that includes a timber harvest and defending this mandate is key to ensuring that Alaska is entrusted to Alaskans”.