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Tell your representatives in Congress: Don't take away vital protections for one of America's great wild places.
ACT NOW
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The trees in Alaska's Tongass National Forest have stood tall for 800 years. Unfortunately, they might not last much longer.
Provisions in the budget bill Congress is considering would exempt the Tongass from the "Roadless Rule," a longstanding protection that for years has kept logging and other destructive industries from cutting down our wild, pristine forests.1
Tell Congress: Don't support any budget that guts protections for the Tongass National Forest.
The Tongass National Forest's 8.5 million acres serve as a habitat for hundreds of species of wildlife. More than 300 species of birds make their homes in its trees, and its streams and waterways provide habitat for spawning salmon and trout.2
In 2001, Environment Georgia and our national network were instrumental in winning the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protected the Tongass and nearly 60 million acres of land across the country from the threat of road building associated with logging, mining and drilling.
The concept behind the rule was simple enough: If it's still wild, let's keep it that way. Americans enthusiastically supported that concept, with a record 1.6 million of us officially commenting on the rule.3
Unfortunately, logging interests have long had their eye on the Tongass, and have tried again and again over the past 17 years to get an exemption from the Roadless Rule. The budget bill Congress is considering now would permanently strip the Tongass of Roadless Rule protections, putting it at risk of destructive development.
Contact your representatives and tell them to stand up for the Tongass National Forest.
The Roadless Rule exists because America understands the importance of preserving our wild places. Pristine forests like the Tongass are part of our national heritage, and they belong not just to us but to future generations that will someday experience their natural beauty.
To allow something this valuable to be destroyed for short-term gain would be a tragedy.
Tell your representatives in Congress not to take away protections for the Tongass National Forest.
Thanks, as always, for all you do.
Jennette Gayer
State Director
1. Elwood Brehmer, "Young, Murkowski talk immigration, infrastructure, Tongass and pot," Alaska Journal of Commerce, February 21, 2018.
2. Nicole Gentile, "Quietly Paving Paradise: How Bush Policies Still Threaten America's National Forests," Environment America Research & Policy Center, April 14, 2009.
3. Christy Goldfuss, "Worth More Wild," Environment Florida Research & Policy Center, September 2007.
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