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United States Govt. to Restore Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Source: Conservation Alliance

The move will reverse one of numerous recent environmental rollbacks which had opened half of this pristine old-growth forest wilderness to industry — plus the introduction of a package of investments focused on Indigenous needs.

Biden Administration begins to Restore Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

On Thursday 15 July, 2021, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported that the Biden administration has taken a critical step toward reasserting U.S. climate leadership and finally recognising that Southeast Alaska has long since moved on from destroying old-growth forests to support itself. In a long overdue step, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed robust consultation and partnership with Indigenous communities to determine a sustainable future for the region. — NRDC.org

and will focus on forest restoration, recreation and other noncommercial uses.
The Biden administration said Thursday that it is ending large-scale, old-growth timber sales in the country’s largest national forest — the Tongass in Alaska — and will focus on forest restoration, recreation and other noncommercial uses. Source: Flickr.com

$25 million investment in sustainable economic opportunities

The NRDC say It is essential that the administration follow through on this necessary component of any action to protect the area’s natural resources. Additionally, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to fully restore Roadless Rule protections and end large-scale old growth timber sales on the Tongass National Forest. In tandem, it is also proposing a $25 million investment in sustainable economic opportunities, with particular focus on investments that are responsive to Indigenous needs. 

Source: NRDC.org 

The U.S. Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, also said it will take steps to reverse a Trump administration decision last year to lift restrictions on logging and road-building in the Southeast Alaska rainforest, which provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon.
Reversal of previous administration’s decisions. The U.S. Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, also said it will take steps to reverse a Trump administration decision last year to lift restrictions on logging and road-building in the Southeast Alaska rainforest, which provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon. Source: John Hyde/Wild Things Photography/EarthJustice

the first step toward saving America’s last big rainforest

In what’s come as welcome news for Native tribes, the climate, wildlife, and local businesses alike, the Biden administration has begun the process to reinstate critical protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. 

The swath of coastal temperate rainforest had been under attack by President Trump’s U.S. Forest Service, which, at the eleventh hour, exempted more than half of the Tongass from the Roadless Rule, a Clinton-era law that prevents logging, road-building, and similarly destructive development on tens of millions of acres of forest wildlands across the country.

“This is the first step toward saving America’s last big rainforest, which is vital and precious to Alaska Native tribes, fish, and wildlife,” says Niel Lawrence, Alaska director for NRDC. “We’re counting on the Biden team to follow through and restore full protection to Tongass wildlands. That would show true leadership on climate and our public lands heritage. And it would hugely benefit the recreation, tourism, and commercial fishing industries that are the region’s economic lifeblood.” 

NRDC, alongside Earthjustice, represents a coalition of Indigenous groups, local businesses, and other environmental organisations that quickly sued the Trump administration in an attempt to block the rollback. The case has been on hold while the Biden administration decides how to proceed. Continued below…

Source: NRDC.org 

The previous administration’s Forest Service had approved plans for a major logging project on the Tongass’ Prince of Wales Island. Source: Melissa Farlow/National Geographic Creative/EarthJustice

the Tongass features the highest density of brown bears and nesting bald eagles in North America

The NRDC writes that Native Alaskan communities—including the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people—have relied on the intact forest for food and medicine and to sustain traditional ways of life for millennia. 

“The Tongass national forest needs to be protected, and the Roadless Rule needs to be reinstated,” says Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake, a federally recognised tribe and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Our way of life depends on an intact old-growth forest. Our customary and traditional use of the Tongass is vital to our people.”

Home to iconic species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf and all five species of Pacific salmon, the Tongass also features the highest density of brown bears and nesting bald eagles in North America.

Protecting this massive forest’s old-growth trees is also critical climate policy: 

The Tongass is a dense carbon sink, storing more carbon per acre in its centuries-old trees than almost any other forest on the planet. Deforestation and degradation of the trees and soil would release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, fueling the climate crisis. 

“The Tongass is a place of both majestic beauty and great importance to Native Alaskans—it’s irreplaceable,” Lawrence says. “The Biden administration must swiftly restore full protection to the forest’s wildlands and all they support. This is one of the last places on Earth we can allow to be destroyed for the sake of logging profits.”

Source: NRDC.org 

The Trump administration moved to exempt the Tongass from those prohibitions, something Alaska political leaders had sought for years. Restoring those protections in the Tongass would return “stability and certainty to the conservation of 9.3 million acres of the world’s largest temperate old growth rainforest,” the Agriculture Department said.
A 2001 rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests with limited exceptions on nearly one-third of national forest land. The Trump administration moved to exempt the Tongass from those prohibitions, something Alaska political leaders had sought for years. Restoring those protections in the Tongass would return “stability and certainty to the conservation of 9.3 million acres of the world’s largest temperate old growth rainforest,” the Agriculture Department said. Source: © Chris Crisman/The Nature Conservancy

Abbie Dillen, President of Earthjustice, issued the following statement in response:

“Fully undoing Trump’s attack on the Tongass and reinstating the Roadless Rule’s protections is the only acceptable path forward for America’s climate forest, and we are excited the Forest Service has committed to protecting these majestic trees. If press reports are accurate that all large scale old-growth logging in the Tongass will stop, the Biden administration should be celebrated for taking a critical step in our international climate fight; the towering giant trees in the Tongass are ancient and sacred, and they are also one of the best solutions we have to climate change. In order to continue storing millions and even billions of tons of carbon and protect the biodiversity that thrives in our forests, we encourage the administration to adopt a similar policy across our National Forest and Department of Interior system to ensure all of our old growth and other critical forest stands nationwide are conserved, instead of being auctioned off to the timber industry.”

Source: EarthJustice.org

Under the plans announced on Thursday, large-scale, old-growth projects that were being planned for the forest will not go forward. Smaller timber sales, including some old-growth trees, will still be offered for local and cultural uses such as totem poles, canoes and tribal artisan use, the Agriculture Department said.
Tongass National Forest is home to stands of old growth trees that are between 300 and 1,000 years old. Under the plans announced on Thursday, large-scale, old-growth projects that were being planned for the forest will not go forward. Smaller timber sales, including some old-growth trees, will still be offered for local and cultural uses such as totem poles, canoes and tribal artisan use, the Agriculture Department said. Source: Rick Schwartz via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0
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