Alaska Rainforest Remains Vulnerable to Political ‘Pendulums’

The latest round of protections for the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest from road-building and logging risks being only a temporary environmental victory without safeguards against Washington’s shifting political control, lawyers and advocates say.

The Biden administration protected most of southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest last week using the US Forest Service’s 2001 rule barring road construction, logging and mining in national forest roadless areas nationwide. The move was backed by environmentalists but vehemently opposed by the state’s officials who want logging jobs to be created in the forest.

While the Tongass’ roadless areas are protected for ...