The Trump administration proposed a rule change Tuesday that would open millions of acres of pristine national forests to commercial logging and road construction.
This move represents a significant shift in federal land management, potentially reversing protections for some of the most undisturbed ecosystems in the U.S. to prioritize industrial growth.
According to reports, the rule change would affect between 44 million [1] and almost 45 million [2] acres of wild forest land. This vast area—approximately 68,750 square miles [1]—could be opened for drilling, logging, and the construction of new roads.
Among the most impacted areas is Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The proposal would specifically affect nine million undeveloped acres [3] within that region, in addition to other swaths of forest across the United States [3].
Administration officials said the move is intended to facilitate road building and logging. This aligns with a broader policy agenda that is hostile toward climate-change mitigation measures [4, 5].
Critics of the proposal point to the ecological risk of fragmenting undisturbed habitats. The Guardian editorial staff said, "Almost 45 million acres of national forests could be potentially opened to road construction, drilling and logging" [2].
The proposal marks a departure from previous conservation efforts that sought to limit human encroachment into old-growth forests. By removing these restrictions, the federal government aims to accelerate commercial resource extraction across diverse national landscapes.
“Almost 45 million acres of national forests could be potentially opened to road construction, drilling and logging.”
The proposed rule change signals a pivot toward an extraction-based economy for federal lands, prioritizing immediate commercial gain over long-term carbon sequestration. By targeting the Tongass and other pristine forests, the administration is reducing the natural buffers that mitigate climate change, likely sparking legal challenges from environmental groups and indigenous stakeholders who rely on these undisturbed ecosystems.
