Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau EmpireMorning mist is seen on a late September morning near Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. The Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area is part of the Tongass National Forest. A process is underway to enact a polarizing rule change that would exempt the largest national forest from the Roadless Rule.

Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire Morning mist is seen on a late September morning near Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. The Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area is part of the Tongass National Forest. A process is underway to enact a polarizing rule change that would exempt the largest national forest from the Roadless Rule.

Alaska tribes say agency ignored Tongass exemption request

Tribal officials: The government ignored Alaska Native groups’ requests to uphold the Roadless Rule.

Associated Press

The U.S. government ignored the requests of some Alaska Native groups to uphold national Roadless Rule restrictions in the Tongass National Forest, tribal officials said.

The U.S. Forest Service recommended lifting the rule completely and is expected to make the decision official before the end of October, CoastAlaska reported Friday.

The agency started a 30-day clock last month to completely exempt Tongass National Forest from the 2001 regulation.

“It’s just another broken promise to tribes as far as we’re concerned,” Hoonah Indian Association Administrator Bob Starbard said.

The rule restricts but does not prohibit road building and resource development on some national forest lands, while some critics said the regulation locks up natural resources.

The federal government is required to consult with tribal governments before making changes to the rule. The Forest Service consulted nine Southeast Alaska tribes whose traditional homelands are part of the country’s largest national forest.

Meetings, hearings and public comment periods dominated by Alaskans who favor keeping the rule intact failed to persuade Forest Service officials, Starbard said.

“The Tongass, which we sit in the middle of, is part and parcel of being Tlingit. We are people of the land,” Starbard said. “It became clear at the very end, however, that the game had already been fixed.”

Marina Anderson, administrator of the Organized Village of Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island, said tribal consultation was not taken seriously by federal officials.

“It was apparent that our participation — requested by the federal government in the throes of this rulemaking process — was a form of box-checking, a form of the government saying that they had consulted with us properly and they met with the Indigenous people properly,” Anderson said.

The tribes’ input “was integral to the agency’s analysis during the rulemaking process,” U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Larry Moore said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Don Young, both Alaska Republicans, have criticized the Roadless Rule. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, also a Republican, applauded the Trump administration’s effort to lift the rule.

[Proliticians praise, conservationists condemn effort to amend Roadless Rule]

Alaska’s elected officials did not listen to the majority of residents who oppose the Roadless Rule rollback, Anderson said.

“Alaska’s delegation, this entire time, has had industry’s best interest, and they’ve been in full support of the exemption,” she said.

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Nov. 3

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, speaks in favor of Senate Bill 48, the carbon credits bill, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in the Alaska House. At background is Department of Resources Commissioner John Boyle and staff supporting the bill. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska House control flips from predominantly Republican coalition to mostly Democratic coalition

Preliminary election results show the new House majority will have at least 22 members.

West Juneau homes on Douglas Island late Thursday afternoon. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
What will Trump as president again and a more liberal Alaska Legislature mean for Juneau?

Election appears to shake up federal and state governments in different ways, leaving lots of unknowns.

Aurelie Alexander photographs a helicopter hoisting cellular equipment onto the roof of the Marine View building at midday Wednesday. As a resident of the apartment/office building, she and others were notified to leave the building during the helicopter operation. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
Hovering around downtown for better phone service

New AT&T equipment installed atop Marine View Building joins other telecom upgrades downtown.

The Columbia is scheduled to replace the Kennicott on the mainline ferry route between Southeast Alaska and Bellingham, Washington, starting in mid-December. (Alaska Marine Highway System photo)
Proposed summer ferry schedule for 2025 remains much the same, with Columbia replacing Kennicott

Public comments being accepted until Nov. 12, with virtual meetings scheduled that day.

A simulated photo shows the tailings stack and other features of Hecla Greens Creek Mine under the final notice of decision for expanding the mine announced Thursday by the U.S Forest Service. The expansion will extend the life of the mine up to 18 years. (U.S. Forest Service)
Extending Greens Creek Mine production for 12 to 18 years gets final OK from Forest Service

Agency says there will also be more habitat protection measures and mine waste disposal capacity.

A sperm whale is seen in an undated photo published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA photo)
Southeast Alaska fisher could get six months in prison after attempting to kill sperm whale

Federal prosecutors are recommending that an Alaska fisher serve six months in… Continue reading

Voters at Anchorage City Hall wait in line to cast their ballots on Nov. 4, 2024, the day before Election Day. City Hall, in downtown Anchorage, was one of the designated early voting sites in the state’s largest city. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
No leaders change as 1,500 more ballots are added to Alaska’s election count

Almost 46,000 votes cast before Election Day remain uncounted, according to absentee and early vote figures.

Most Read