Tell the U.S. Forest Service: Don’t pave over the Tongass
The US Forest Service is considering rolling back protections for America’s largest national forest — the Tongass — which would open the area up to road building and other destructive development. This could pave the way to disaster.1 Take action now: Tell the U.S. Forest Service to keep Tongass intact.
Roads in the Tongass
The U.S. Forest Service announced in early August that it had signed an agreement with the state of Alaska to kick off the process for opening up Tongass National Forest to new roads.
How can they do this? The agency is looking at the Roadless Rule — the federal regulation that bars roads from our national forests — and deciding whether it applies to Tongass.
Since 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has kept destructive developers from cutting down and paving over forests around the country. But some want to exempt Tongass from this rule, leaving it vulnerable to development. We need to raise our voices and speak up to keep Tongass road-free.
The Tongass National Forest is a diverse, 17 million acre ecosystem — filled with thriving salmon populations, tens of thousands of grizzly bears and the world’s largest grouping of bald eagles.2
How You Can Help
The Tongass is a truly precious wild place — and we don’t have many of these untouched places left on the planet.
1. Elizabeth Jenkins, “New Roads in Tongass? Forest Service Signs Off On State’s Ask,” KTOO Public Media, August 2, 2018.
2. “Animals of the Tongass National Forest,” Alaska Wilderness League, October 2014.