diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 54902a1c..c8f15e3a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "rasterio>=1.4.0",
     "color-operations",
     "typing-extensions",
-    "importlib_resources>=1.1.0; python_version < '3.9'",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
diff --git a/rio_tiler/colormap.py b/rio_tiler/colormap.py
index ab493496..d2cb124a 100644
--- a/rio_tiler/colormap.py
+++ b/rio_tiler/colormap.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 import pathlib
 import re
 import warnings
+from importlib.resources import as_file
+from importlib.resources import files as resources_files
 from typing import Dict, List, Sequence, Tuple, Union
 
 import attr
@@ -24,15 +26,6 @@
     IntervalColorMapType,
 )
 
-try:
-    from importlib.resources import as_file
-    from importlib.resources import files as resources_files
-except ImportError:
-    # Try backported to PY<39 `importlib_resources`.
-    from importlib_resources import as_file  # type: ignore
-    from importlib_resources import files as resources_files  # type: ignore
-
-
 EMPTY_COLORMAP: GDALColorMapType = {i: (0, 0, 0, 0) for i in range(256)}
 
 _RIO_CMAP_DIR = resources_files(__package__) / "cmap_data"
diff --git a/tests/test_cmap.py b/tests/test_cmap.py
index 6a5d2397..ab421c7e 100644
--- a/tests/test_cmap.py
+++ b/tests/test_cmap.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import os
 import pathlib
 from copy import deepcopy
+from importlib.resources import as_file
 
 import numpy
 import pytest
@@ -16,12 +17,6 @@
     InvalidFormat,
 )
 
-try:
-    from importlib.resources import as_file
-except ImportError:
-    # Try backported to PY<39 `importlib_resources`.
-    from importlib_resources import as_file  # type: ignore
-
 PREFIX = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "fixtures", "cmap")
 
 colormap_number = 211