Supporter -
Last week, President Trump told the Forest Service to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule that has protected it — and millions more acres of National Forest System land — from road building and logging for 20 years.
The impacts are staggering to consider. The Tongass is home to threatened species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf and Queen Charlotte Goshawk, which can't sustain more assaults on their habitat. And further development would threaten sites sacred to Alaska Natives.
And it gets worse: This could set a precedent for states across the country to exempt themselves from the Roadless Rule, opening up millions of acres of pristine wild land to development.
Supporter, the good news is there's still something we can do. Sen. Maria Cantwell has a bill to stop state-level exemptions to the Roadless Rule, keeping it in full force for all of our National Forests. We need to stop the destruction of Tongass and make Sen. Cantwell's bill law so that none of our other natural lands come so close to the brink of destruction again. Will you pledge to join the fight now?
Make your monthly donation to the Sierra Club today, so we can do absolutely everything possible to save these invaluable natural places. We'll send you our Shopping Cart Grocery Bag—FREE.
The Tongass is an essential carbon sink. It stores more atmospheric carbon than any other U.S. forest. Each tree that is cut down removes a piece of this invaluable resource that helps slow climate change. Just as we need Brazil to protect the Amazonian rainforest to help avert the climate crisis, we need to protect our own rainforest in Alaska for the same reason.
If Trump and his allies succeed in Alaska, that won't be the end of it. Their goal is to open as much of our public land to clearcutting and mining as they can. And they've made it clear they're going to ignore everything the public wants: Last fall, Alaska's First Nations activists, recreational and commercial fishermen, tourism operators, and others made their desire clear when they submitted 144,000 comments in favor of protecting the Tongass.
At the Sierra Club, this is a matter of listening to those voices most affected by this decision. It's a matter of preserving beautiful places so that we don't need to tell future generations what the natural world used to be like. And it's a matter of protecting the ancient carbon-rich forests that are one of our best tools for stopping the climate crisis, rather than destroying them.
Become a monthly donor today to protect the Tongass, our national forests, and wild places across the country.
Thank you for your vital support in building a better world.
With determination,
Lena Moffitt
Senior Director, Our Wild America
Sierra Club
Photo: CC2.0/Andrew Malone. | 
