:
John,
Along Alaska's Southwest coast spans a nearly 17-million-acre national forest -- the largest in the country.[1]
The Tongass National Forest has been dubbed the "crown jewel" of the national forest system and for good reason. This verdant landscape is flush with wildlife and home to some of the largest stands of old-growth trees in the world. But these very trees are on the chopping block.
Let's meet a few of the trees that make the Tongass so magical.
Reaching heights of 150 feet and living up to 500 years, the western hemlock may not be the tallest or oldest tree in the Tongass, but it's certainly the most abundant -- in fact, it's the most common tree in all of Alaska.[2]
These ubiquitous trees can be identified by their feathery needles, which shade the streams where salmon lay their eggs, and their distinctive drooping crowns, which provide shelter for birds and small mammals such as martens and flying squirrels.
Growing best mixed in with other types of trees, thriving in the shade of larger Sitka spruce and western redcedars, western hemlocks define the varied, multilevel nature of Tongass old-growth.
If it's the tallest tree in the Tongass you're looking for, that title is likely held by a Sitka spruce. These remarkable trees can reach over 200 feet in height. Sitka spruce are the second most common tree in the Tongass. They're easily identified by their scaly bark, straight trunks, wide canopy and stiff needles.[3]
Their size and stature make Sitka spruce targets for logging companies, and as a result many of the most ancient goliaths of the forest are no longer standing. But in the more remote regions of the Tongass, Sitka giants still stand guard over their forest home.
Standing beside an old-growth western redcedar, with its wooly red bark and wide, knotted trunk, one gets the impression they're standing at the foot of a prehistoric beast. And though they weren't around to see wooly mammoths, several western redcedars alive today are well over 1,000 years old.[4]
Though less common than Sitka spruce and western hemlock, western redcedars are the most culturally significant trees in the Tongass. Throughout its range, the western redcedar is regarded by many Indigenous peoples as the "tree of life." People would use the decay-resistant wood to make clothing, houses, baskets, canoes and various other goods, hardly ever felling a tree in the process.[5]
The second half of the 20th century saw large-scale logging across the Tongass -- approximately half a million acres of virgin forest were clearcut in less than 50 years.[6]
Our national network was instrumental in securing the passage of the Roadless Rule in 2001, which protects 92% of the Tongass from logging, mining and habitat fragmentation caused by road construction, logging and mining.[7] When those protections were stripped from Tongass in 2020, we joined our partners to organize and advocate to restore the Roadless Rule. Protections were restored in 2023.
USDA Secretary Rollins just announced plans to roll back the Roadless Rule, this time for 37 states including Alaska. If they follow through with their plans, millions of acres of forests will be on the chopping block -- including the Tongass.
For hundreds of years, these trees have watched over the Tongass. Now it's time for us to defend them.
Thank you,
Ellen Montgomery
P.S. Want to help support our campaign to defend the Tongass? Donate today.
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1. "America's Rainforests," Nature Live, last accessed July 1, 2025.
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2. "Western Hemlock--A Graceful Native," Portland.gov, last accessed July 1, 2025.
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3. "America's Rainforests," Nature Live, last accessed July 1, 2025.
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4. "Thuja plicata," The Gymnosperm Database, last accessed July 1, 2025.
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5. "Thuja plicata," The Gymnosperm Database, last accessed July 1, 2025
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6. Amy Gulick, "Tongass National Forest: Remains of the Rainforest," Sierra Magazine, November 2, 2001.
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7. Cecilia Nowell, "Trump rescinds protections on 59m acres of national forest to allow logging," The Guardian, June 24, 2025.
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