Difference between revisions of "Tongass National Forest"

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*Total Acreage – 16.8 million
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*'''Size:''' 16.8 million acres – America's largest national forest, larger than West Virginia.
 
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*'''Protection History:''' Created in 1907 via presidential proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1908, the Tongass was combined with the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve. Additional proclamations were made in 1909 and 1925, bringing the Tongass to its current size.
*Original Protection – September 10, 1907 under Republican Theodore Roosevelt
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*'''Most Recent Development:''' As of October 2020, the U.S. Forest Service has exempted Alaska from the Roadless Rule, stripping over 9 million acres of roadless protections from the Tongass.
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*'''Threats:''' A Roadless Rule exemption for the Tongass could re-start wide scale clearcutting of old-growth logging. Additionally, land transfers to private corporations could fragment the forest even further.
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*'''Climate Change:''' When old-growth rainforests like the Tongass are cut down, they release up to two-thirds of their stored carbon to the atmosphere.
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*'''Wildlife:''' The Tongass is home to five species of Pacific Salmon, humpback and orca whales, otters, beavers, wolves, deer, plus some of the largest concentrations of brown bears and bald eagles in America.
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*Expanded Protection – July 1, 1908 when combined with the Alexander Archipelago
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*Most Recent Action – September, 2018 when USDA-FS field a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for a state-specific Roadless Rule
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At 16.8 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is America’s largest national forest, encompassing the majority of the southeast Alaska panhandle. Each year more than 1 million people come to experience glaciers flowing from the mountains into the sea and iconic wildlife that thrives in one of the largest remaining temperate rainforests in the world.
  
*Wilderness – There are 19 designated wilderness areas within the Tongass, more than in any other national forest
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Alaska’s national forests were protected under the [https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EbJoO2W8LytPlDHAhn_zPIcBtRNae2jkOryDgnSSzGVr6Q?e=g5o5qE 2001 Roadless Rule] expressly because forested wildlands persist in Alaska on a scale unknown elsewhere in the country. In addition to harboring great natural beauty and iconic wildlife, scientists believe that retaining the intact roadless areas of the Tongass is a “key element” in sustaining the region’s extraordinary salmon runs (and its commercial, subsistence and recreational fisheries). Unfortunately, through regulatory rollbacks the Trump administration have exempted the Tongass from roadless protections.
  
*Wildlife – Five species of Pacific Salmon, humpback and orca whales, otters, beavers, wolves, deer, plus some of the largest concentrations of brown bears and bald eagles in America.  
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The House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing in November of 2019 focused on the impacts that removing roadless protections in the Tongass would have. In October of 2020, the Trump administration finalized an Alaska state-specific Roadless Rule which gutted protections for the entire Tongass by exempting the entire state of Alaska from the Roadless Rule. This would open more than 9 million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass to roadbuilding activities and clear-cut logging. On day one, the Biden administration ordered a review of this rulemaking process. Please see below for relevant legislation, talking points, fact sheets and more on what we're doing to defend the Tongass National Forest.
 
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The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most iconic and pristine landscapes in America. Its 1.5 million-acre coastal plain – the biological heart – is home to more than 250 species that migrate from all 50 states and 6 continents each year. The Porcupine Caribou Herd, a primary subsistence food source for the Indigenous Gwich’in people, migrates hundreds of miles each year to the coastal plain to give birth. Because of this, the Gwich’in refer to the coastal plain as “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”
 
  
Despite the sacred and wild beauty that survives in the Refuge, the Trump administration is barreling towards a drilling program in its fragile coastal plain. After the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R.1) in December, which included the Arctic Refuge drilling mandate, the administration and supporters in Congress have made it abundantly clear that they intend to rush through public processes this while the political winds are in their favor. Please see below for relevant legislation, talking points, fact sheets, and more on what we're doing to defend the Arctic Refuge.  
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[[#Fact Sheets|Fact Sheets]] | [[#Congressional Letters|Congressional Letters]] | [[#Public Letters|Public Letters]] | [[#Maps|Maps]] | [[##Research & Reports|Research & Reports]]  
  
[[#Fact Sheets|Fact Sheets]] | [[#Congressional Letters|Congressional Letters]] | [[#Public Letters|Public Letters]] | [[#Maps|Maps]] | [[#Reports & Previous Attempts to Drill|Reports & Previous Attempts to Drill]]
 
  
 
'''''Recent Legislative Activity'''''
 
'''''Recent Legislative Activity'''''
*'''H.R. 5911, Arctic Cultural & Coastal Plain Protection Act'''
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*'''[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/279?r=2&s=1 H.R. 279]/[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/877 S. 877], [https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/Ec5mQhDojPJKla1wjHzYLhgBrOPEZwIX9G5XAPSIgCn2AA?e=PeQVh4 Roadless Area Conservation Act] (117th Congress)
** the bill to repeal the provision of the tax bill (H.R. 1) that mandates drilling in the Arctic Refuge and returns to status quo of no drilling
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**This bill would provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System.
 
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** To cosponsor, email Emma Reidy (mailto:emma.reidy@mail.house.gov) in Representative Gallego's office (D-AZ) or Amit Ronen (mailto:Amit_Ronen@cantwell.senate.gov) in Senator Cantwell's office (D-WA) for the Senate companion.
*'''H.R. 1, Tax Cuts & Jobs Act'''
 
** the overhaul of the American tax code came with a provision that mandated leasing in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge
 
 
 
*'''H.R. 1889/S.820, Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act'''
 
**landmark legislation that would designate the coastal plain as protected wilderness
 
 
 
 
 
'''''Opportunities to Show Support'''''
 
*Cosponsor [https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5911/text H.R. 5911]; [https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1889/text H.R. 1889]/[https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/820/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s820%22%5D%7D&r=1 S. 820] - email Logan Ferree (logan.ferree@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Huffman's office & Morgan Gray (morgan_gray@markey.senate.gov) to co-sponsor.
 
  
  
 
'''''Talking Points'''''  
 
'''''Talking Points'''''  
*Last year, a devastating provision was passed as part of the unrelated tax bill that mandates oil and gas development in the iconic Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This damaging drilling provision mandates two lease sales within 10 years, each at least 400,000 acres in size, on the Refuge’s fragile coastal plain. Furthermore, this bill declared oil and gas as a purpose of the Arctic Refuge which has never before been the case, undercutting the integrity of the Arctic Refuge and setting a dangerous precedent for America’s entire National Wildlife Refuge System. The “Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act” would repeal this damaging provision and the stop the aggressive oil and gas development threat that is underway for the Arctic Refuge.
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*The Trump administration’s Tongass exemption to the Roadless Rule, issued in the final days of 2020, opens the gates to clear-cutting countless centuries-old trees in the Tongass, with irreversible consequences for salmon fisheries, tribal communities and the forest ecosystem. '''The 2001 Roadless Rule must be reinstated immediately to protect critical forest protections.'''
*The scars of 2-D seismic testing completed on the coastal plain in 1984 and 1985 are still visible 30 years later. Modern seismic exploration, however, is done using a 3-D technique that requires a much denser grid of trails. Just an EA will be insufficient- a full EIS is required for a proposal as impactful as seismic testing across the entire 1.6 million acre coastal plain. An EIS was conducted for the seismic performed in the 1980s.
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*'''The Roadless Rule is the result of one of the most extensive public processes''' in U.S. history – more than 1.6 million people submitted comments on the rule, and 95% of those commented favorably on roadless protections.
*Seismic activities on the Coastal Plain will also adversely impact wildlife and their habitat, including polar bears. The Coastal Plain is the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears, a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act. Seismic activities have the potential to disturb polar bears during their denning season and to cause mothers to abandon their cubs. SAExploration’s seismic activities, which will extend from winter into spring, could also disturb other species like caribou and birds that return in the spring to the Refuge’s biological heart.
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*'''The Trump administration’s Tongass exemption to the Roadless Rule was flawed from the beginning.''' An overwhelming majority of comments – [https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/tongassblueprint/pages/1960/attachments/original/1590607105/Alaska_Roadless_Rule_-_DEIS_Public_Comment_Report_%28May_2020%29.pdf?1590607105 96%] – favored keeping the 2001 Roadless Rule protections in place. A recently published [https://www.usda.gov/oig/audit-reports/forest-service-grant-roadless-area-management-state-alaska OIG report] clearly states the Forest Service broke the law by illegally agreeing to award $2 million to the state through funds that were supposed to be directed towards wildfire management, all during one of the worst fire seasons in years.
 
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*'''The Tongass is essential to the culture and livelihood of Alaska Native communities who rely on hunting, fishing, and wild harvest as a matter of survival.''' A united group of [https://www.juneauempire.com/news/southeast-tribes-unite-to-oppose-lifting-roadless-rule/#:~:text=The%20six%20tribes%20are%20the,and%20Organized%20Village%20of%20Kasaan. six Southeast Alaska Tribes] supported keeping roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest, and [https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/searac-winter-2020-book.pdf 12 tribal governments] objected to the lack of consultation when the Tongass was exempted from the Roadless Rule in 2020.
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*As part of the world's largest temperate rainforest, '''the Tongass stores a huge percent of the world's carbon''' — [https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5252603.pdf 8 percent of all forests in the Lower 48 combined]. In total, [https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/11/20/477495/trumps-energy-policies-put-alaska-climate-crosshairs/ the Tongass stores an estimated 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon and sequesters an additional 10 million metric tons annually]. It makes no sense to subsidize the clearcutting of the United States' largest carbon sink at a time when the world and American communities are increasingly suffering from climate change impacts. '''When it comes to battling climate change, the Tongass National Forest is a life raft.'''
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*'''The Roadless Rule rollback will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.''' Since 1980, the USFS has spent approximately [https://www.taxpayer.net/energy-natural-resources/cutting-our-losses-tongass-timber-2/ $1.961 billion subsidizing timber sales in the Tongass], including road construction. Yet it received only $230 million in proceeds from these sales; this has led to a net loss of $1.7 billion, and an average loss of $44 million annually.
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*'''The Tongass is the linchpin of Southeast Alaska’s economy''', attracting people from around the world for world-class recreation, hunting, and sport and commercial salmon fishing. In recent years, visitor industry and seafood-related jobs have accounted for [https://www.seconference.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20Southeast%20by%20the%20Numbers%202019.pdf 26 percent of jobs] in the region and generated an annual $2 billion economic benefit.
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*'''The timber industry presently provides [https://www.seconference.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20Southeast%20by%20the%20Numbers%202019.pdf less than 1% of jobs] in the Southeast economy and is sustained primarily through federal subsidies.''' Timber used to be a significant employer in Southeast Alaska, but today recreation and fishing support thriving, sustainable business in the Tongass.  
  
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==<span id="Fact Sheets"></span>Fact Sheets==
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/ESZdE8_wNbpCl8t7alUYZdsBiNMsagwaaj1MimNX2zqEdw?e=bdjvvc Roadless Area Conservation Act]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/sites/External/AKBriefing/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FExternal%2FAKBriefing%2FTongass%20Roadless%20Rule%20Factsheet%20Final%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2FExternal%2FAKBriefing The Roadless Rule Protects the Tongass National Forest]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EQWt3jpN_z5GjclWQNm5cecBa2WI4k7fVLR_be-945ogKg?e=hj87m8 What is the Roadless Rule?]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/Ef9Ux7KyKlNEoh8vYyBUYNwBjTN2haiElnuCc0x7IN1YyA?e=9R032Y Taxpayers Subsidize the Clear-cut Logging of America’s Rainforest]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EdAq0FYBg-NMiQA6-ffNjs8BVVjwXgV_CvbhFca8gux73w?e=b4Bgqg Know Your Salmon]
  
==<span id="Fact Sheets"></span>Fact Sheets==
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==<span id="Congressional Letters"></span>Congressional Letters==
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/ET67v0XsU8xOp9_hog6PXeQBBS1vSSXlS5tBrPIVyxjyhA?e=SwCZEo Rep. Cole Amendment to FY19 Interior Appropriations Bill]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/sites/External/AKBriefing/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FExternal%2FAKBriefing%2FLetter%20to%20USDA%20RE%20Alaska%20Roadless%20Rule%20Rulemaking%20Jan%202022%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2FExternal%2FAKBriefing Letter from Senate and House Democrats to Secretary Vilsak on Reinstating Roadless Rule to the Tongass], January 2022
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EXjc0MJfBDZPvJKvF1oIThABa0SYDznGwGWnYuFAt1EUMA?e=W7Ztw3 The Trump Administration's Attempt to Open the Refuge to Seismic Exploration]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/ERhEmGvKZdNFhvVsBqH-NaMBsHCmaDig4NP7Hop9A-FJdw?e=EBUJCS Letter from House and Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing  the FEIS for the Tongass Roadless Rule], October 2020
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EaGT-MhVzXtEjhPVBABuReoBx9kkZp3PPKOvMCN4BxLVVA?e=xtyGJK Leasing in the Coastal Plain]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EfXlAlU9pgZPqIPJ2DjtScwBeuYrX2JfuWnXuvp0wlJN5g?e=nmGJ2U Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue on Environmental Justice and Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule], December 2019
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EejXQTCOaoNPrhi8DOARVzABZH8guR5mtIzM47D3aCRfPA?e=bZQb3F Potential Legislative Threats to the Arctic Refuge]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EXlh6nVdJXxFuN8UTMWJns0BwaPwyZ5oCxxVxNhUjx28yg?e=yJ2gbx Letter from House Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule], December 2019
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/ERbEXcd5iKVOgTGBij7a0-8BteU51YLaf6Y6AEQAA5AuRw?e=BmZqnP Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule], November 2019
==<span id="Congressional Letters"></span>Congressional Letters==
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EVusITb7HSVBmY7Ef_D-7MQBzuMfwu7uUGGtrmi37BrPvA?e=NQgFU4 Letter from House Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing Roadless Rule Rollbacks in Alaska], October 2018
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EbioaIIiXvNKq8eyQKIIBH0Bq_Ns4QqCi4kAs6LyzNgi5Q?e=p8GFOF Letter from Senate Democrats Against NOI & Arctic Refuge Leasing], June 2018
+
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/ERVCKIh9oUFCm3t209ie0TUBaVjms6RQWjGRXn0eDceHvQ?e=h6rMNh Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing Roadless Rule Rollbacks in Alaska], October 2018
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/ESNz8GgSO7JPmFROoMl_ZKIB3Ob-Am3CyXwgsn_abQu9fA?e=a5ZJoO Letter from House Democrats Against NOI & Arctic Refuge Leasing], June 2018
 
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EYwUsm-brfJDud7JlQ8_6EgBFNHOUWKSRXPXi2zeTKK6uA?e=G7v5QW House Natural Resources Committee Democrats Letter to Secretary Zinke], April 2018
 
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EeBXjOTzWMFHpZr8iqjtlfYBfT3bP0GmWzE-TfmHhzOqOw?e=bqCwZj Republican Letter Opposing Arctic Refuge Drilling in Budget Process], June 2017
 
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EbaFpSBl89BLoCh7y9KPvMMByntIqvdb71fuR0JsM7WhpA?e=5swABL Bicameral Letter to Secretary Zinke Opposing Secretarial Order 3352], June 2017
 
  
 
==<span id="Public Letters"></span>Public Letters==  
 
==<span id="Public Letters"></span>Public Letters==  
*[https://thelastoil.unm.edu/scholars-for-defending-the-arctic-refuge/ Scholar Letter], June 2018
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/Ebt6g5XnnjFHjU4PNs3rjEEBs6C57KsJSIYbRw8MjCKBnA?e=qbCeuI Environmental Community Opposition Letter to USFS on Alaska State Specific Roadless Rule], October 2018
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/ESW47pTE6plAsnRwavBxsLAB5mIYqW5AiTCNhXyPjZR4zA?e=K57oQV Guide & Outdoor Recreation Professional Letter], June 2018  
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EeKWnlVQR99OvussGPYqMj8BDwpqg0GAuEQjW0Mly4W74w?e=eC0IJh Letter from Scientists to the USFS Supporting Roadless Rule Protection in the Tongass], September 2018
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EZu217_JMHlLgP8bXHOsWXwBguQVUPwD6v8O9ipT024B4Q?e=aMPNLa Athlete Letter], June 2018
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/Eb37ZbUs76dIql-hmSWQ0nkB882r32S4dC9eQACS_dfSIg?e=kxUHlr Environmental Community Opposition Letter to Alaska Native Claims Settlement Improvement Act (S. 1481)], January 2018
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EcOUJMmzdyZOqqjEwML3W4QBdTqUDvOvXx6AD9x5TVZ-EA?e=Si25NC Gwich'in Steering Committee Letter], May 2018
 
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EeI3bOK_mBJFvmDGzb07VuQB5DwuaEg3L-Zt3A_02S_0Dg?e=drUWcF Investor Letter], May 2018
 
  
 
==<span id="Maps"></span>Maps==  
 
==<span id="Maps"></span>Maps==  
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EUoZ-mbwNJFHu3l5Svr_CSwBzQ74QDZgKOJKw3kULL_7_A?e=vU5Pl5 ASRC Lands in the Arctic Refuge]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/External/EdU7wR29hQ5OoNLvKv8NVNUBrz2lfdPl0wFXOJO-IZKTYw?e=MdAOH3 Tongass National Forest Roadless Areas]
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EY7EsGn9MVtJrdFKZTJebqsBGk0NbxdWdwanZCA5C6qFBw?e=XFdoHB Porcupine Caribou Herd Migration Route Map - Gwich'in Steering Committee]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:i:/s/External/EVKj8ops7ZlBmkpfXQ0WNv0B7dDv_WffCEXuKZczbOJVrg?e=m4p8Pf The Tongass 77 Priority Salmon Watersheds]
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EemhqaCzAq9BmZIHqC2EE1kBj8xO48-SZD9yiQ3yoX6DmA?e=XRVmia Oil & Gas Leasing in the North Slope]
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*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:i:/s/External/EcqZcv6LeKtBl2fGhq7HoDQBgFaOj5VMNQU878-TeJFQ3Q?e=MeU3Pg National Forests of Alaska - USFS]
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/ETmWPWxFJLdCnFjKI7dYsNQBXkGQ6TMldFd5C29nMOjAuw?e=4XsKAw Arctic Values Map]
+
 
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==<span id="Research & Reports"></span>Research & Reports==
==<span id="Reports & Previous Attempts to Drill"></span>Reports & Previous Attempts to Drill==  
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*[https://www.taxpayer.net/energy-natural-resources/cutting-our-losses-tongass-timber-2/ Cutting Our Losses after 40 Years of Money-Losing Timber Sales in the Tongass - Taxpayers for Common Sense], September 2020
*[https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2018/08/09/454309/powerful-arctic-oil-lobby-group-youve-never-heard/ The Most Powerful Arctic Lobby Group You've Never Heard Of - Center for American Progress], August 2018
+
*[https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/11/20/477495/trumps-energy-policies-put-alaska-climate-crosshairs/ Trump’s Energy Policies Put Alaska in the Climate Crosshairs - Center for American Progress], November 2019
*[https://alaskawildernessleague.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/programs/EfFic9tL-jlHnou3ti63o8MBnkTPFIKoKA27Nt0pd0C8iA?e=yAo38U Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Impacts on Deficit and National Energy Security], November 2018
+
*[https://www.taxpayer.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TCS-Cutting-Our-Losses-2019-.pdf Cutting Our Losses: 20 Years of Money-Losing Timber Sales in the Tongass - Taxpayers for Common Sense], October 2019
*[https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/10/10/440559/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-101/ Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 101], October 2017
 

Latest revision as of 13:31, 4 February 2022

Sitka waterfall 6173285451 small.jpg
KEY FACTS
  • Size: 16.8 million acres – America's largest national forest, larger than West Virginia.
  • Protection History: Created in 1907 via presidential proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1908, the Tongass was combined with the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve. Additional proclamations were made in 1909 and 1925, bringing the Tongass to its current size.
  • Most Recent Development: As of October 2020, the U.S. Forest Service has exempted Alaska from the Roadless Rule, stripping over 9 million acres of roadless protections from the Tongass.
  • Threats: A Roadless Rule exemption for the Tongass could re-start wide scale clearcutting of old-growth logging. Additionally, land transfers to private corporations could fragment the forest even further.
  • Climate Change: When old-growth rainforests like the Tongass are cut down, they release up to two-thirds of their stored carbon to the atmosphere.
  • Wildlife: The Tongass is home to five species of Pacific Salmon, humpback and orca whales, otters, beavers, wolves, deer, plus some of the largest concentrations of brown bears and bald eagles in America.

At 16.8 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is America’s largest national forest, encompassing the majority of the southeast Alaska panhandle. Each year more than 1 million people come to experience glaciers flowing from the mountains into the sea and iconic wildlife that thrives in one of the largest remaining temperate rainforests in the world.

Alaska’s national forests were protected under the 2001 Roadless Rule expressly because forested wildlands persist in Alaska on a scale unknown elsewhere in the country. In addition to harboring great natural beauty and iconic wildlife, scientists believe that retaining the intact roadless areas of the Tongass is a “key element” in sustaining the region’s extraordinary salmon runs (and its commercial, subsistence and recreational fisheries). Unfortunately, through regulatory rollbacks the Trump administration have exempted the Tongass from roadless protections.

The House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing in November of 2019 focused on the impacts that removing roadless protections in the Tongass would have. In October of 2020, the Trump administration finalized an Alaska state-specific Roadless Rule which gutted protections for the entire Tongass by exempting the entire state of Alaska from the Roadless Rule. This would open more than 9 million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass to roadbuilding activities and clear-cut logging. On day one, the Biden administration ordered a review of this rulemaking process. Please see below for relevant legislation, talking points, fact sheets and more on what we're doing to defend the Tongass National Forest.


Fact Sheets | Congressional Letters | Public Letters | Maps | Research & Reports


Recent Legislative Activity


Talking Points

  • The Trump administration’s Tongass exemption to the Roadless Rule, issued in the final days of 2020, opens the gates to clear-cutting countless centuries-old trees in the Tongass, with irreversible consequences for salmon fisheries, tribal communities and the forest ecosystem. The 2001 Roadless Rule must be reinstated immediately to protect critical forest protections.
  • The Roadless Rule is the result of one of the most extensive public processes in U.S. history – more than 1.6 million people submitted comments on the rule, and 95% of those commented favorably on roadless protections.
  • The Trump administration’s Tongass exemption to the Roadless Rule was flawed from the beginning. An overwhelming majority of comments – 96% – favored keeping the 2001 Roadless Rule protections in place. A recently published OIG report clearly states the Forest Service broke the law by illegally agreeing to award $2 million to the state through funds that were supposed to be directed towards wildfire management, all during one of the worst fire seasons in years.
  • The Tongass is essential to the culture and livelihood of Alaska Native communities who rely on hunting, fishing, and wild harvest as a matter of survival. A united group of six Southeast Alaska Tribes supported keeping roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest, and 12 tribal governments objected to the lack of consultation when the Tongass was exempted from the Roadless Rule in 2020.
  • As part of the world's largest temperate rainforest, the Tongass stores a huge percent of the world's carbon8 percent of all forests in the Lower 48 combined. In total, the Tongass stores an estimated 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon and sequesters an additional 10 million metric tons annually. It makes no sense to subsidize the clearcutting of the United States' largest carbon sink at a time when the world and American communities are increasingly suffering from climate change impacts. When it comes to battling climate change, the Tongass National Forest is a life raft.
  • The Roadless Rule rollback will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Since 1980, the USFS has spent approximately $1.961 billion subsidizing timber sales in the Tongass, including road construction. Yet it received only $230 million in proceeds from these sales; this has led to a net loss of $1.7 billion, and an average loss of $44 million annually.
  • The Tongass is the linchpin of Southeast Alaska’s economy, attracting people from around the world for world-class recreation, hunting, and sport and commercial salmon fishing. In recent years, visitor industry and seafood-related jobs have accounted for 26 percent of jobs in the region and generated an annual $2 billion economic benefit.
  • The timber industry presently provides less than 1% of jobs in the Southeast economy and is sustained primarily through federal subsidies. Timber used to be a significant employer in Southeast Alaska, but today recreation and fishing support thriving, sustainable business in the Tongass.

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