|
Today, the Trump administration is expected to finalize a plan to open 9 million acres of Alaska's Tongass National Forest to road construction and logging. The administration's efforts to open the Tongass National Forest to logging have been underway for almost two years. The U.S. Forest Service is scheduled to publish its analysis on the impact of lifting protections that prohibit road construction in the forest, paving the way for the Trump administration to hold timber sales before the end of the year.
The Tongass National Forest is one of the world’s largest temperate rain forests. As climate scientists point out, it offers an important service to humanity as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing about 8 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution emitted by the United States.
Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League criticized the administration's expected decision, saying, “Make no mistake, this is about gutting protections for the largest carbon sink and the most biologically rich national forest in the United States. This is America’s Amazon.”
Tomorrow: National Public Lands Day
Saturday, September 26th is National Public Lands Day! The theme this year is "More ways to connect to nature." Check here for volunteer opportunities on public lands near you. Entrance to national parks and most public lands is free on Saturday.
|
Logging makes fires worse, not better. One of the most fateful management choices Congress and our federal forest agencies made in the past was to allow logging corporations free reign on public lands to take the biggest, oldest, most fire-resistant trees with them and leave behind flammable piles of slash, dense plantations of young trees and networks of logging roads that would stretch from here to the moon and halfway back."
