Roadless Rule Repeal for National Forests Expected by Summer

The Trump administration is delaying its rollback of a rule protecting more than 44 million acres of federal forests from logging and road-building, the Agriculture Department said in a Tuesday court filing.

The US Forest Service plans to publish the proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule between now and the end of the summer, the USDA said in a status update filed in Alaska’s lawsuit challenging roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest.

The USDA sent the proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review on March 6 and said at the time ...