plan of action - october 16, 2019

Tongass National Forest


Trump is intent on despoiling Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate forest in the world. Tongass covers over 16 million acres, and under Clinton it was (and currently still is) protected by the “Roadless Rule,” which prohibits logging and the building of roads within the forest. Trump’s USDA Forest Service wants to remove half of Tongass from protection, which would open the area up to the danger of clear cutting. Although Governor Dunleavy and Senator Murkowski are in favor of the rule change, saying that Alaska’s economy is being stymied by the limitation on logging, in fact a very small proportion of Alaska’s economy depends on logging, the most significant sectors being fisheries and tourism. The USDA will be accepting public comments on six alternative plans, ranging from not changing the rule at all to their preferred plan of unrestricted open season on half of Tongass.

Action:

Email a comment to the USDA stating your opposition to any alternative except Alternative 1. Give your full name and address: akroadlessrule@fs.fed.us

Or write to them: USDA Forest Service, Attn: Alaska Roadless Rule, P.O. Box 21628, Juneau, Alaska, 99802