United States – On August 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule across the United States, including the Tongass Rainforest. The DEIS follows the USDA’s announcement in August 2025 to initiate the rulemaking process with a Notice of Intent (NOI) to eliminate Roadless Rule protections nationwide. The DEIS opens a short, 30-day, public comment period that will close at midnight on September 21, 2026, and calls for public comment on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of rescinding the Roadless Rule.

The historic 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule safeguards over 58 million acres of unroaded national forest lands across the United States and has been in effect for the majority of more than two decades. This was a direct result of the historic amount of public support that the rule has received with 1.6 million public comments and over 600 public hearings. Despite tremendous public support of the Roadless Rule, during the first Trump administration in 2019, the Roadless Rule was repealed in the Tongass. This was met with overwhelming public disapproval as 96% of nearly half a million comments submitted advocated against the repeal leading to its reinstatement in 2023.

The current planned rule to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule dangerously weakens protections for 45 million acres of forestlands nationwide, including 9 million acres of the Tongass Rainforest. If enacted, Indigenous communities, conservation groups, and environmental leaders are raising the alarm that undeveloped forestland will be opened to potential industrial development such as logging, drilling for oil and gas, and mining.

The Tongass National Forest, ancestral homeland of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Referred to as “America’s Climate Forest,” the Tongass possesses an unsurpassed ability to sequester vast amounts of carbon and mitigate the climate crisis as it holds 20 percent of the carbon stored across all U.S. national forests – preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. It is also a backbone for food security and food sovereignty in the region as it provides critical habitat for Indigenous peoples’ traditional foods such as deer, moose, salmon, and berries.The Roadless Rule provides crucial safeguards to the Tongass Rainforest which is vital for upholding Indigenous sovereignty and combating the climate and biodiversity polycrises.

Please see below statements from the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) in response to the Notice of Intent:

“The rescinding of the Roadless Rule today is a continued act of violence on Mother Earth as it furthers the destructive agenda of industrial logging and mining across U.S. public forests,” said Wanda Culp, Tlingit activist and Tongass Forest Coordinator for the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). “The Tongass Forest, the traditional lands of the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian tribes, is our culture, our economy, our livelihoods and we will face the consequences of this corporate exploit. An attack on the Tongass is an attack on the Indigenous peoples of this land and we urge people to stand with us in upholding the Roadless Rule and protecting forests for generations to come.”

“A rollback on the Roadless Rule means cultural genocide for our people. Every part of our culture is intimately intertwined with the Tongass Forest, our traditional homelands,” said Yolanda Fulmer (Tlingit), WECAN Tongass Representative. “We have a duty as matriarchs to protect our culture and territories for future generations, and therefore, the Roadless Rule must be upheld and codified for long-term protections.  For future generations, for our cultural lifeways, and for our global climate, we must keep these forests standing.”

“Mother Earth is alive. She teaches us, she saves us. We must reciprocate this by protecting her. We must fight to maintain and strengthen Roadless Rule protections,” said Mamie Williams (Tlingit) WECAN Tongass Representative. “We are still growing back from when the peak of industrial logging tore through our lands in Alaska, ripping away some of our oldest tree ancestors, devastating our traditional homelands for corporate and government exploitation. Heed the reminder that these scars provide, uphold the Roadless Rule and allow our forests and communities to regrow and flourish.”

“In the last two decades we’ve seen the success of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass. The forest and rivers are healing, wildlife is bouncing back, and our communities are able to access traditional first foods and sacred lands once clear cut by devastating logging practices,” said Adrien Nichol Lee (Tlingit), WECAN Tongass Representative. “Without Roadless, companies will come to our land, extract our life sources, and leave us with the wreckage, like they’ve done in the past. Let’s not repeat history, and keep the Roadless Rule standing, our home relies on its protections.”

“Today, the USDA is attempting to rescind the Roadless Rule as they have done in previous years, and we must fight back and demand that they uphold Roadless Rule protections in the Tongass,” said Rebekah Sawers (Yupik), WECAN Tongass Representative. “Rescinding Roadless opposes public interest and the wellbeing of the Indigenous peoples of the Tongass. We must stand up and ensure that our lands stay free from development for our forest relatives, for our wild foods, and for the sake of future generations and the global climate.”

"The Tongass National Forest is the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforest and one of our greatest defenses against the escalating climate and biodiversity polycrisis because of its unfragmented old-growth stands and critical habitat for keystone species. If the Roadless Rule is rescinded in the Tongass, industrial logging and mining will accelerate climate chaos, destroy ecological integrity, and threaten public wellbeing,” said Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). “The planned rulemaking to rescind the Roadless Rule in the Tongass is a threat to Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and local economies in Alaska that rely on a healthy, intact Tongass Rainforest. WECAN stands with Indigenous women of the Tongass and people across the country to call for “No Action” on the Roadless Rule to defend communities, the climate, and our future!”

Background Information

The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) has worked with Indigenous women leaders in Alaska to protect the Tongass for over seven years, including organizing multiple Indigenous Women’s Tongass delegations to Washington, D.C. to advocate for the reinstatement of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. Through public comment and joint advocacy of Indigenous leaders, environmental organizations, small-business owners, and other groups, the Roadless Rule was formally reinstated in 2023, protecting 9.2 million acres of roadless area in the Tongass.