Dear John,
|
Stop Big Timber from destroying the country's largest forest: Donate now and save the Tongass!
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
|
The Tongass National Forest is under attack. Trump and Big Timber opened this national treasure up to a massive logging operation, which would do irreparable harm to the environment and the communities that depend on it. We need to act quickly to save the Tongass Forest! Rush a $10 donation to Friends of the Earth.
Towering spruce and cedar trees up to 1000 years old, wearing long beards of lichen and moss. Ice-fields and mighty glaciers. Snow-capped mountain peaks. Rivers and fjords flowing among thousands of islands. This is Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is the largest and most pristine forest in the country -- and the largest remaining temperate rainforest in the world. It is a sweeping expanse of rugged wilderness unlike anything else.
Sometimes called “The Amazon of America,” this ancient, 17-million-acre old-growth forest echoes with the sounds of wildlife -- Sitka blacktail deer, wolves, black and brown bears, moose, and mountain goats. The waterways shelter porpoises, seals, minke and killer whales, sea otters, and an abundance of fish, including all five species of pacific salmon. More bald eagles live in this region than in any other place in the world.
With these resources as the foundation of their ways of life, the forest has been home to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people for over 10,000 years. All this is now under threat, as the United States Forest Service just opened this forest up to massive logging and industrial development.
Stop big corporations from destroying the Tongass Forest: Donate $10 or more now!
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
On October 29, Trump’s Forest Service opened more than nine million acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to loggers. Now, these companies will be able to build roads through the rainforest and begin to clear-cut the thousand-year-old red and yellow cedar, Sitka spruce, and Western hemlock trees that make this national forest so crucial in the fight against climate change.
This decision is a reversal of the 2001 Roadless Rule which is an important conservation policy with widespread support among conservationists and scientists. When our forests burn or are clear-cut, wildlife, communities and the climate suffer. Most of the last remaining wild salmon population and bald eagles in the Tongass are under threat. And our forests are a critical line of defense against the climate crisis -- the Tongass alone stores more than 10% of all carbon consumed by America’s national forests. That’s why they call it “the lungs of the country.”
For the Indigenous communities that call the forest home, the rollback not only threatens the forest, it endangers their way of life and the wildlife habitats that they depend on for survival.
Frankly, the only ones who benefit from destroying our forests are giant corporations. The timber and mining industries want to clear-cut the Tongass to increase their profits. TransCanada wants to cut through Canada’s boreal forests to build the Keystone XL Pipeline. And the big agribusiness companies linked to the Amazon fires have financial backing from Wall Street giants like BlackRock.
Their plan is dangerous and immoral. It will devastate local economies reliant on tourism and fishing. It will decimate the sacred lands of local Indigenous communities. It will crush the habitats of wildlife that calls the Tongass home. And it will neutralize one of our best defenses against climate change. We can’t let any of that happen.
We’re running out of time to restore protections for the Tongass and stop the destruction of forests -- and we need your help.
Help fight the destruction of our forests and the communities and wildlife that depend on them: Donate $10 or more before it’s too late!
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
In a world of increasing climate impacts, our wild places are among our most important defenses against climate change. When politicians side with polluters rather than the people, it is our communities that suffer for it. We need to stand up against those who are trying to roll back environmental protections and make these crises worse, from Alaska’s Tongass Forest and Arctic Refuge, to the Gulf Coast.
We’re going up against huge corporations and their powerful cronies in government -- a daunting task. But with Friends of the Earth Members like you at our side, I know we can win this fight and protect our climate and wild places. We have a comprehensive plan to safeguard our public lands, prevent climate chaos, and support communities on the front lines of this fight:
- We’ve sent thousands of comments to the USDA demanding that it protect the Tongass from mining and logging. This same strategy stopped the destruction of several of our national monuments in recent years.
- We’ve launched lawsuits to protect some of America’s most iconic wild spaces and public lands, and the communities and species that rely on them. This includes the Arctic Refuge.
- We’re supporting allies in Congress to pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act to restore protections for the Tongass and ensure that roadless forests across the country are protected from threats like this.
- We’re pushing Members of Congress to go on the record taking strong stances against destructive megaprojects. Now, we’re building support for a broader approach to phase out fossil fuels and rein in Big Industry once and for all.
When we work together, we can do just about anything. But we’re running out of time to prevent the worst impacts of climate chaos. We’ve got to act fast, before our most iconic wild places and the biodiversity they support disappear forever -- and communities around the world are left with poisoned air, polluted water, scarred land, and an unlivable planet.
John, make a $10 contribution to Friends of the Earth today, and help protect our forests, climate, and communities.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels program manager,
Friends of the Earth
