On Oct. 29, 2020, the U.S. Forest Service stripped vital protections from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The agency exempted the Tongass from the protections of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which was established to safeguard clean drinking water sources, critical species habitat, and protect from development the most pristine areas of our nation’s federal forests. This decision opens 9.2 million acres of the Tongass—our nation’s largest national forest and one of the world’s largest old-growth temperate rainforests—to industrial logging and mining. We can and must roll back this decision and reinstate the Roadless Rule protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
PLEASE URGE THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO RESTORE THE ROADLESS RULE ON THE TONGASS TO ENSURE IT REMAINS PROTECTED.