Action Alert: Comments Needed on Alaska Roadless Rule
The US Forest Service announced today that they will be publishing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Alaska Roadless Rule in Federal Register this week. The US Forest Service press release announced that the preferred action of the Forest Service at this time is A FULL EXEMPTION. This means that all designated Roadless areas in the Tongass currently protected by the Roadless Rule, would lose those protections and once again be threatened by roadbuilding and clearcut logging.
From the USFS Press Release:
“The (preferred) alternative would remove all 9.2 million acres of inventoried roadless acres and would convert 165,000 old-growth acres and 20,000 young-growth acres previously identified as unsuitable timber lands to suitable timber lands…This is specific to the Tongass National Forest.”
Illustrator Mara Menahan in a Roadless Area. Photo: Gleb Mikhalev.
Here are just a few reasons why the preferred action of the USFS is unacceptable for the future of the Tongass.
The Tongass, known as America’s Climate Forest, is the largest carbon sink of all of the national forests in the United States.
The Tongass is a globally significant refuge for healthily functioning coastal rainforest ecosystems; home to bears, wolves, deer, birds, and salmon.
Logging the Tongass is costing taxpayers a colossal amount of money. Tax Payers for Common Sense have recently reported that $600 million federal dollars have been lost to Tongass logging since 1999.
Millions of wild salmon spawn in the Tongass. Every year commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska harvest 49 million wild salmon that were spawned in the streams and rivers of the Tongass, and the rest return to the forest to reproduce and nourish wild animals and massive trees.
The ONLY common sense alternative is the NO ACTION alternative. Leave the Roadless Rule in place on the Tongass.
Make your voice heard! Share your comment through Southeast Alaska Conservation Council OR comment directly to the USFS through the information shared at the bottom of their press release.
Even though Alaska’s political delegation is willing to turn their backs on the people of Southeast Alaska in favor of supporting an industry that makes up less than 1% of the regional economy, there is widespread support for the Roadless Rule.
When the USFS first opened up a scoping period for their proposed ‘Alaska specific’ change to the Roadless Rule in 2018, over 90 percent of the 143,900 formal comments received by the US Forest Service were in support of taking no action to change the Roadless Rule. Additionally, Ketchikan Indian Community, Organized Village of Saxman, Craig Tribal Association, and Organized Village of Kake have all passed resolutions to express similar sentiments.
WE MUST STOP SENDING OUR ANCIENT FORESTS OVERSEAS.
The photo below is a shot from our May 2019 expedition, we passed this cargo ship on the west side of Prince of Wales as it loaded its holds full of ancient forest. As we sailed around my home island bearing witness to Roadless Areas, this ship was bound for Japan.
