Tongass National Forest

KEY FACTS

Size: 16.8 million acres – America's largest national forest, larger than West Virginia. Protection History: Created September 10, 1907, when the Tongass National Forest was created via presidential proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt. In July 1908, the Tongass was combined with the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve (created August 20, 1902). Additional proclamations were made in February 1909 and June 1925, bringing the Tongass to its current size. Most Recent Development: Roadless Rule Exemption Review Process. As of September 2018, the U.S. Forest Service is evaluating a state-specific Roadless Rule as requested by the State of Alaska. Threats: A Roadless Rule rollback and/or 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 approximately 17 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 legislation and regulatory rollbacks, the Alaska delegation and the current administration are attempting to exempt the Tongass from roadless protections.

At the end of the Obama administration, the U.S. Forest Service finalized an amendment to the Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP) that slowly moves the Tongass away from taxpayer-subsidized, industrial-scale old-growth logging, long since abandoned elsewhere in the national forest system. Despite strong public support and scientific backing, the Alaska delegation, similar to its actions on the Roadless Rule, has been attempting to reverse and weaken protections guaranteed by TLMP through riders in must-pass legislative vehicles and stand-alone legislation.

Now the Trump administration is attempting to gut protections for the entire Tongass through an Alaska state-specific Roadless Rule. After a meeting between President Trump and Alaska Governor Dunleavy, the Secretary of Agriculture identified a preferred alternative in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the rulemaking process which would exempt the entire state of Alaska from the Roadless Rule. This would open more than 9 million acres of roadless areas to roadbuilding activities and clear-cut logging of old-growth forest. In November, the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing focused on the impacts that removing roadless protections in the Tongass would have. 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

• H.R. 2491/S. 1311, Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2019
  • This bill would provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System.
  • To cosponsor, email Mariel Jorgensen (mailto:mariel.jorgensen@mail.house.gov) in Representative Gallego's office (D-AZ-7) or Amit Ronen (mailto:Amit_Ronen@cantwell.senate.gov) in Senator Cantwell's office (D-WA).

Talking Points

• Opening up the Tongass National Forest roadless areas to road building and logging would threaten the abundant wildlife and beautiful scenery essential to the tourism fishing industries in Southeast Alaska, each of which contributes approximately $1 billion dollars to the region’s economy each year.
• 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.
• As part of the world's largest temperate rainforest, the Tongass stores a huge percent of the world's carbon — 8 percent of all forests in the Lower 48 combined It makes no sense to subsidize the clearcutting of the United States' largest carbon sink at a time the world and American communities are increasingly suffering from climate change. When it comes to climate change, the Tongass National Forest is a life raft.
• The Roadless Rule rollback will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, the US Forest Service has lost approximately $600 million over the last twenty years or $30 million per year on average. Moreover, the USFS could end up losing more than $180 million in the Tongass over the next four years.

Fact Sheets

• Roadless Area Conservation Act
• What is the Roadless Rule?

Congressional Letters

• Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue on Environmental Justice and Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule, December 2019
• Letter from House Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule, December 2019
• Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing the DEIS Preferred Alternative for the Tongass Roadless Rule, November 2019
• Letter from House Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing Roadless Rule Rollbacks in Alaska, October 2018
• Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary Perdue Opposing Roadless Rule Rollbacks in Alaska, October 2018

Public Letters

• Environmental Community Opposition Letter to USFS on Alaska State Specific Roadless Rule, October 2018
• Letter from Scientists to the USFS Supporting Roadless Rule Protection in the Tongass, September 2018
• Environmental Community Opposition Letter to Alaska Native Claims Settlement Improvement Act (S. 1481), January 2018

Maps

• Tongass National Forest Roadless Areas
• The Tongass 77 Priority Salmon Watersheds
• National Forests of Alaska - USFS

Research & Reports

• Trump’s Energy Policies Put Alaska in the Climate Crosshairs - Center for American Progress, November 2019
• Cutting our Losses: 20 Years of Money-Losing Timber Sales in the Tongass - Taxpayers for Common Sense, October 2019