Tell Your Representative to Pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

In its closing days, the administration has opened one of America’s ancient forests to logging.

The Tongass National Forest is a haven for irreplaceable, old-growth groves and teems with wildlife. The Roadless Rule has protected the Tongass from resource extraction for almost 20 years, but now it’s under threat.

Call on your U.S. House representative to pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=41653.

Known as “America’s Amazon,” the Tongass National Forest is the biggest national forest in the United States — and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Forty percent of the Pacific’s wild salmon are spawned under its branches, and it’s home to Sitka black-tailed deer, bald eagles, and more bears than in the Lower 48 states combined.¹

The Tongass is also one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, storing more carbon than any other forest in the country.² Many of its trees are over 800 years old. Opening the Tongass to logging operations would threaten wildlife, destroy trees older than the United States, and release carbon into the atmosphere.

We can’t allow this to happen.

Use your voice to protect the forest: Advocate for the Roadless Area Conservation Act.

We have a long history with the Roadless Rule. We called on the Forest Service to implement a rule ending roadbuilding in heretofore roadless areas of our national forests. A record 1.6 million public comments were submitted to the Forest Service. Of those, nearly half were the result of our grassroots advocacy. We’ve stood up for our forests before — and we’re ready to do it again.

We can stop this administration’s decision, but we have to codify the Roadless Rule into law so that the Tongass is safe for generations to come.

Send your message today to stop logging in the Tongass National Forest.

With your help, we can protect this precious resource.

1. Mary Catherine Martin, “From Rock To Forest,” Juneau Empire, February 19, 2016.
2. Rachel Frazin, “Trump administration finalizes plan to open up protected areas of Tongass National Forest to logging,” The Hill, September 25, 2020.