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 The Tongass National Forest contains the largest intact expanse of coastal temperate rainforest in the world. The size of West Virginia, the Tongass is home to many species of plants and animals--giant Sitka spruce, grizzly bears, wolves, wild salmon—whose ranges have diminished or even disappeared from other parts of North America. The Tongass features unspoiled rivers, magnificent fjords, and spectacular mountains.
Since 1982, the U.S. Forest Service has wasted $1 billion in taxpayer money -- losing an average of $40 million a year -- by subsidizing the Tongass timber program. In fact, the value of Tongass timber has declined so much that the Forest Service must now routinely build logging roads on behalf of the logging companies—using taxpayer dollars—at a cost that exceeds the timber’s value.
For over 50 years, timber companies have had access to the biggest and best trees in the Tongass National Forest, leaving American taxpayers to foot the bill. The House of Representatives has twice voted to curb taxpayer subsidies of logging roads in the Tongass, but somehow, the Forest Service hasn’t gotten the message.
In August of 2005, a successful lawsuit brought by Earthjustice’s Juneau office succeeded in sending the Forest Service back to rewrite its plan for how the Tongass National Forest will be managed. In fact, the court found that the allowable logging levels under the plan were based on severely flawed calculations as to how much demand there would be for Tongass timber.
The court decision gives the Forest Service the opportunity to design a new, more environmentally and fiscally responsible forest plan that will safeguard lands in the Tongass that are important for community use, recreation, fishing, hunting, and tourism, especially the pristine roadless areas untouched by logging, road building, or other development.
 Notwithstanding the greatly reduced demand for Tongass timber, the Forest Service has offered for public comment a draft plan that would allow logging to increase by a whopping 500% over actual recent cutting levels, mostly in roadless areas.
The agency needs to hear from you soon. Please call on the agency to build a plan that safeguards this magnificent coastal rainforest for generations to come.
If you would like to submit comments directly through the Forest Service’s website, click here.
If you would like to submit comments by mail, please send to:
Tongass National Forest
Attn: Forest Plan Adjustment
648 Mission Street
Ketchikan, AK 99901 |
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Earthjustice has long been working through the courts to safeguard Alaska’s wild and diverse lands and waters, including:
:: Working to protect the Tongass National Forest from destructive and unnecessary logging and road building;
:: Fighting to save Teshekpuk Lake, a pristine wildlife haven in northern Alaska, from harmful oil and gas drilling; and
:: Keeping the remote and beautiful Lower Slate Lake from being destroyed by toxic mining waste. |
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