The Tongass National Forest is our home.
The public lands of the Tongass are important for all Americans, but they’re essential for those of us who live here. This is where our families hunt, fish, gather food, and work on the land in ways that just aren't possible anywhere else in the country. The Roadless Rule protects over 9 million acres of public lands on the Tongass, areas that we rely on to feed our families and support our economic livelihoods.
But Alaska's State Government wants to remove the Roadless Rule.
The State of Alaska, Alaska’s Congressional Delegation, and the timber industry have fought the 2001 Roadless Rule since its inception. The State of Alaska has already lost multiple lawsuits regarding the Rule’s application on the Tongass.
With the Trump administration, the State saw a new opportunity to open up more land to clearcut old-growth forests. On August 30th, 2018, Alaska submitted a petition to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to create an Alaska-specific Roadless Rule. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping process kicked off a 45-day public comment period accompanied by 19 public ‘information’ meetings conducted by the Forest Service throughout Southeast Alaska communities, Anchorage, and Washington D.C., which ended on October 15th, 2018. Over 140,000 comments were submitted, with the vast majority of the comments in favor of keeping the 2001 Roadless Rule in effect on the Tongass.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will make the final decision on the Alaska Roadless Rule. He needs to understand that Southeast Alaskans want to KEEP THE 2001 ROADLESS RULE ON THE TONGASS. A sustainable Alaska is possible. Let’s fight for it.
Your voice matters!
Click here to submit a comment to the Forest Service today.
We've created an online tool to help you draft an effective comment on the Roadless Rule.
You can also write to your senator and Secretary Perdue below. We'll deliver your words straight to Washington, D.C.
If you want to submit your letter to your local newspaper, let us know! We can help you hone your argument and get your words published.
Showing 82 reactions
US ALASKANS DON’T WANT THIS ROAD AND WE WILL VOTE OUT THOSE WHO APPROVE IT
Tyler – born and raised in palmer alaska
Not only that, but the Tongass, brings in revenue in the form of salmon fishing and tourism . Things which once gone, can not be replaced.
I live in SE Alaska, where our lives are inextricably intertwined with the Tongass forest. I am a teacher at an alternative school, where most of our students come from a history of ongoing trauma. Every week, sometimes every day, we try to get them outside, and I watch how the forest changes them and heals them.
The Tongass has sustained 3 different Alaska Native people groups for thousands of years. Today it supports wild salmon and the tourist industry, employing thousands of people in the region. When residents talk about the weekend here, they always seem to take place in the forest. Weddings, birthdays, memorials, hikes, wildlife watching, and more. Our lives are lived in the forest.
Even people that have never heard of the Tongass benefit from it. Our carbon stores are among the densest in the world. We help to mitigate carbon expenditures across the globe.
I was deeply dismayed to hear that you are proposing to weaken our protections. Please reconsider. Please be a voice for the people of southeast Alaska, and for people all over the world, protecting something that has been for thousands of years, not a voice for those that would destroy it for a quick buck.
thank you,
Naomi Love
YDHS teacher
Juneau, Alaska
I am aware that the Forest Service is responsible for managing the forest, but this is not “caring for the land and/or serving the people”. Please tell me one person, other than someone that stands to make a lot of money from this action, that this is “serving”? No one, without an agenda, wants this beautiful forest clear cut. Please do not stand idly by while this travesty is at your doorstep, so our kids and their kids will have this magical place in the future.
You must not privatize the public lands in the Tongass and open them to logging. It is a short sited decision that is morally incorrect and is going to have devastating effects on the ecology and landscape of the Tongass. Clear cutting causes land slides, especially in places that receive as much rain as the Tongass. Please back away from the Tongass and leave it public. Have conscience please and do the right thing, leave the Tongass public and do not open it to logging.
Sincerely,
John Crawford
I emplore you to reconsider this plan to privatize the Tongass Forest and repeal the Roadless Rule – this would be a terrible mistake. Please save this highly sensitive ecosystem from the perils of habitat destruction that are certain to follow these changes. This forest best serves the long-term needs of Alaska and he United States as an in-tact, preserved forest. Don’t be shortsighted. Don’t rob the future children of this unique resource!
Kind Regards,
Jennifer Dever
Concerned citizen of the USA
I emplore you to reconsider this plan to privatize the Tongass Forest and repeal the Roadless Rule – this would be a terrible mistake. Please save this highly sensitive ecosystem from the perils of habitat destruction that are certain to follow these changes. This forest best serves the long-term needs of Alaska and he United States as an in-tact, preserved forest. Don’t be shortsighted. Don’t rob the future children of this unique resource!
Kind Regards,
Jennifer Dever
Concerned citizen of the USA
My husband and I live in Arizona, but we have made repeated trips to the magnificent waterways of the Tongass National Forest in coastal Southeast Alaska.
We have spent a lot of money on these trips to SE Alaska, and virtually all that money was spent on Alaska-owned transportation companies, and in the communities of SE Alaska.
Therefore we were dumbfounded to learn that Alaska’s own senator would be proposing the further degradation of the forests of Tongass National Forest by allowing increased privatization of the Tongass, and increased clearcutting at taxpayer expense.
This cannot be in the long-term interest of the citizens of SE Alaska, who depend heavily on tourist money. I can certainly say that the further trips we were already planning to SE Alaska would be affected by this kind of short-sighted activity.
Please reconsider.
Thanks,
Pearl Mast