Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday took a step toward opening up the pristine woodlands of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and road construction, saying it would prefer an end to all road-building restrictions throughout the forest.

The move, which was widely expected, comes after years of prodding by successive Alaska governors and congressional delegations, which have pushed the federal government to exempt the Tongass, the nation’s largest national forest, from a Clinton-era policy known as the roadless rule, which banned logging and road construction in much of the national forest system. A final rule is not expected until next June.

On Tuesday, the United States Forest Service, which comes under the Department of Agriculture, took a step forward and put its weight behind a final decision that would be welcomed by most politicians in the state but dreaded by environmentalists.