Giving Compass' Take:

• Sabrina Shankman discusses the Trump Administration's plan to make Alaska's Tongass Forest developable, and how it could impact carbon sequestration.

• How could impacts from repealing the Roadless Rule effect broader net-zero carbon emission goals? How could these effects be mitigated?

• Learn how sustainable forests are combating climate change.

The Trump Administration wants to allow logging in previously off-limit areas of Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday, a move that could turn one of the nation's largest carbon sinks into a source of new climate-changing emissions.

The old-growth temperate rainforest contains trees that are centuries old and play a crucial role in storing carbon. In a state that is synonymous with oil production, the Tongass National Forest represents the potential for natural solutions to help combat the climate crisis.

A 9.4-million acre swath of the Tongass has been protected under a Clinton-era requirement called the Roadless Rule, which safeguarded 58 million acres of undeveloped national forest lands from roadbuilding, logging and mineral leasing. But the Tongass has long been an area of hot dispute.

In August, Trump ordered Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exclude the area from the Roadless Rule. The draft environmental impact statement — expected later this week — will aim to do just that, according to a press release issued on Tuesday that describes the administration's plan. If enacted, it would allow roads to be built throughout the now-protected area, and it would convert 165,000 old-growth acres and 20,000 young-growth acres previously identified as unsuitable timber lands to suitable timber lands.

From a climate perspective, the plan could have global implications.

The ancient trees in the Tongass store at least 8 percent of the total carbon absorbed by all national forests in the lower 48 states, DellaSala said. "When we clear-cut a forest, most of the carbon is put back into the atmosphere," he said.

Read the full article about the Trump administration's plan to erase protections for national forest by Sabrina Shankman at Inside Climate News.