Alaska Sues Biden Administration Over New Tongass Logging Ban

[mystery-ak]

Alaska Sues Biden Administration Over New Tongass Logging Ban
By Ward Clark | 5:18 PM on September 09, 2023

Alaska is suing the Biden Administration over the cancellation of a Trump-era policy allowing logging and general access to over nine million acres in the state's Tongass National Forest. The original action, started during the Clinton Administration, was part of a larger "Roadless Initiative."

    The state of Alaska is suing the Biden administration over its decision to reinstate protections from logging for a national forest in the state.

    The Biden administration restored the protections on more than 9 million acres that were rolled back under the Trump administration in January, citing biodiversity and climate change in its reasoning.

    On Friday, Alaska officials announced they would challenge that decision to protect economic development in their state.

    “Alaskans deserve access to the resources that the Tongass provides — jobs, renewable energy resources, and tourism, not a government plan that treats human beings within a working forest like an invasive species,” Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) said in a statement.

The Biden Administration restored those protections in January of this year, citing biodiversity and climate change. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement:

    As our nation’s largest national forest and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass National Forest is key to conserving biodiversity and addressing the climate crisis.

    Restoring roadless protections listens to the voices of Tribal Nations and the people of Southeast Alaska while recognizing the importance of fishing and tourism to the region’s economy.

more
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2023/09/09/alaska-files-suit-over-biden-administration-ending-tongass-logging-n2163616

[Wingnut]

Biden is F**king Alaska like a tied up goat to appease the wacko far left greenies.   

[Smokin Joe]

"Biodiversity" requires variations in local environments.
 
Logging, even selective clear cuts, provides those variations as meadows grow where trees once stood (as the replacement trees grow up), with transitional environments to deep timber. That means different plants, and different critters in those localized environments. Homogeneity does not lead to diversity.

The premise is false, the absence of roads just means that when there is a fire, it can only be fought from the air, or by people on the ground with mostly hand tools. Or we all get another Summer of Smoke, like this last one has been.

One more thing: nature is a dynamic system. You cannot 'preserve' a dynamic system in stasis. It's as useful as a rail system that has trains that don't move.

[Kamaji]

"Biodiversity" requires variations in local environments.
 
Logging, even selective clear cuts, provides those variations as meadows grow where trees once stood (as the replacement trees grow up), with transitional environments to deep timber. That means different plants, and different critters in those localized environments. Homogeneity does not lead to diversity.

The premise is false, the absence of roads just means that when there is a fire, it can only be fought from the air, or by people on the ground with mostly hand tools. Or we all get another Summer of Smoke, like this last one has been.

One more thing: nature is a dynamic system. You cannot 'preserve' a dynamic system in stasis. It's as useful as a rail system that has trains that don't move.