U.S. says will restore protections for Alaska's Tongass forest

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday said it would move to restore environmental protections to the largest U.S. national forest, the Tongass in Alaska, that were removed by the Trump administration.

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the move would conserve 9.3 million acres of the world's largest temperate old growth rainforest. The agency also said it would end large-scale old growth timber sales in the Tongass and focus resources on forest restoration, resilience and recreation.