By Alex Craven, Our Wild America Organizer
The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is likely an unfamiliar name to the average American. However, as co-owners of this public land we should take note that this vast forest, dubbed the ‘crown jewel’ of the National Forest System, is back on the chopping block. In mid-October, the Trump Administration announced their intent to open up the Tongass to the timber industry, jeopardizing 800 year old trees and removing protections for the largest temperate rainforest on the planet.
The Tongass is the ancestral home of three Alaska Native nations - Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian - who have lived and depended on these lands and waters since time immemorial. The Tongass National Forest ecompasses nearly 17 million acres, roughly the size of West Virginia. It is home to ancient forests of sitka spruce, douglas fir, and cedar, miles of salmon spawning waterways, and granite fjords. Roaming within these landscapes are wolves, moose, the densest concentration of brown bears and eagles in the world, and countless other species. And for nearly 20 years, the Tongass has benefitted from protection under the Roadless Rule.
In 2001, the American public provided more than 1.6 million comments on the proposed ‘Roadless Rule’. We asked for our landscapes to remain intact, and for public lands without roads to be preserved as they are. The response was the right one: President Clinton issued the Roadless Area Conservation Policy, protecting 58.5 million acres of wildlands across the United States from logging, roadbuilding, and other extractive industries. In the Tongass National Forest, that meant 9.3 million acres of undeveloped lands were granted protection.
Since 2001, the need for the Roadless Rule has only increased. As the climate crisis is intensifying, we must preserve intact landscapes that mitigate the worst effects of climate change, not cut them down. The Tongass National Forest is one of our strongest buffers against climate catastrophe, storing an estimated 10-12% of all the carbon in our National Forest System. Fortunately, our own Senator Cantwell is introducing a bill that would make the Roadless Rule impervious to attacks like this one and protect important landscapes like the Tongass.
Make no mistake: the proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass is a threat to the foundation of the Roadless Rule nationally. Whether you support the Roadless Rule for maintaining habitat, its climate benefit, or just the value of preserving wild places, please comment here to tell the Forest Service why, and that you support a ‘No Action’ alternative.