Posted by Jane Clark--please take action today. Thanks!
A Unique Rainforest Ecosystem at Risk
The Tongass National Forest Needs Your Help--Comments Due Monday, April 30
Submit YOUR comments to the Forest Service today! See below for email
addresses and see several talking points indicated by "o".
Currently, the Tongass is the only national forest in the United States
where road building and commercial logging are allowed in roadless areas, (a
result of the December 2003 decision by the current administration to exempt
the Tongass from the national Roadless Rule, which prohibits most commercial
logging in the remaining roadless areas of all other national forests.)
On January 12 the U.S. Forest Service proposed to amend the Tongass land
management plan, starting off a comment period that ends Monday, April 30.
The Forest Service released its draft plan and environmental impact
statement (EIS) for managing the Tongass National Forest in Alaska for the
next 10-15 years. Faced with rejection by the court decisions and
overwhelming citizen opposition to logging in roadless areas, incredibly,
the Forest Service's "proposed" alternative would again allow as much
cutting as the old, illegal plan. Our calculations estimate that up to 80
percent of this logging would likely come from roadless areas.
A Unique Rainforest Ecosystem at Risk
o The Tongass National Forest provides significant habitat for fish and
wildlife species which have declined or become threatened in the lower 48
states, including all five species of Pacific salmon, brown (grizzly) bears,
wolves, Bald Eagles, Marbled Murrelets, Northern Goshawks, and many other
species of forest birds and mammals.
o Protecting the remaining intact watersheds with high fish and wildlife
values and their rainforest habitats, including rare giant spruce and
hemlock trees, should be the highest priority for the revised Tongass Land
Management Plan.
o Within the Tongass National Forest, ancient Western Hemlocks reach
hundreds of feet into the air, protecting lush stands of cedar and Sitka
Spruce slowly maturing in the dappled sunlight below the canopy. These
ancient forests provide clean water and spawning grounds for five types of
wild salmon, habitat for grizzlies, black bears, moose, as well as some of
the highest concentrations of bald eagles in the country.
This is your opportunity to tell the Forest Service:
o to protect the remaining intact watersheds (roadless areas) of highest
ecological value in America's largest national forest
o to protect the world's most significant region (along with British
Columbia) of old-growth temperate rainforest.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Let the Forest Service know you believe it's time for a change in the
Tongass! Write a comment letter and tell the Forest Service they must:
o protect all wild roadless forests
o move away from wasteful spending on a flawed logging program
o move funding from the timber program to managing appropriate recreation
and tourism
o repair the damage from past logging practices
o restore the 435,000 acres of existing clearcuts
o move toward a new plan which makes sense for Alaskan communities
o the Tongass for birds and other fish and wildlife
We Need a Balanced Tongass Land Management Plan
o It is time for the Forest Service to manage our largest national forest
in a way that reflects and serves the needs of all residents, tribes, and
communities of southeast Alaska, as well as the interests of the broader
American public.
o The level of logging in the original plan is more than five times what
the southeast Alaska timber industry has logged annually over the past 6
years on the Tongass.
o Since 1982, American taxpayers have lost nearly $1 billion subsidizing
road building and clearcutting in the Tongass.
o The Tongass National Forest has the highest timber subsidy level of any
National Forest and currently loses more than $45 million on timber sales
each year. This translates into about $200,000 for every logging and mill
job generated by the program.
You Can Help
o Tell the Forest Service that you support protecting the Tongass for birds
and other wildlife!
o It doesn't make sense to destroy ancient forests and a globally rare
ecosystem, while wasting our taxpayer dollars.
o Urge the Forest Service to promote a forest plan that will safeguard the
Tongass for community use, recreation, fishing, hunting, and tourism - not
road-building and logging.
Comments are due by April 30th!
Submit Comments To:
Tongass Forest Plan Adjustment
Tongass Land Management Plan.
**Be sure to include your name and your street address in your comments.
Copy this address (there are underscores) and email comments to:
[log in to unmask]
and Cc: [log in to unmask]
Or, at the Sierra Club forest website, comments generated there will be sent
electronically to the forest service. www.sierraclub.org/forest (a form
letter has been generated, you can also add own comments)
Sierra Club's Vision
The Sierra Club's vision for the Tongass is one where all its wild places
are protected. It is one where the economies of the region and its
communities are in harmony with their wild setting. Our vision recognizes
that even as the timber industry has become more un-competitive, the
recreation and visitor industries have expanded and become the true economic
drivers of Southeast Alaska. Yet to help these industries, the Forest
Service spends only a tenth of what they spend to promote logging. Our
vision for a new Forest Plan would move funding from the timber program to
managing appropriate recreation and tourism. It would recognize that 435,000
acres of existing clearcuts need restoration. Our vision is one of repairing
the damage resulting from past logging practices, sustaining wild salmon
runs and providing services that Southeast Alaska communities need.
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