Dear NRDC Activist,

The Trump administration wants to hand over millions more acres of America's publicly owned lands to corporate interests and industrialization — this time, in Alaska's unspoiled Tongass National Forest.

They're rushing to weaken the Roadless Rule, a long-standing landmark rule that protects the Tongass from the ravages of large-scale, industrial logging by prohibiting the building of roads and timber harvesting.

Make no mistake: Rolling back the Roadless Rule from protecting the Tongass is a taxpayer-subsidized giveaway from the Trump administration to timber and logging companies so they can destroy some of America's last pristine, ancient trees at the expense of our climate, wildlife, and public lands — all to bolster profits.

The U.S. Forest Service must consider public input on their draft environmental impact statement for this disastrous plan — but only for the next few weeks. We need your help to overwhelm the administration with letters calling on them to uphold the Roadless Rule in Alaska and oppose destructive logging in the Tongass National Forest.

The 2001 Roadless Rule protects more than 58 million acres of wild, untouched public forests across the country by banning construction and development, saving the Tongass, America's largest national forest, from an onslaught of fast-paced clearcutting.

As a result, the Tongass today is teeming with wildlife and mostly free of roads and logging operations. The 17 million-acre forest is home to species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf, grizzly bears, salmon, and the world's largest breeding concentration of bald eagles.

The Tongass also stores more carbon per acre than almost any other forest on the planet, making it an absolutely critical tool in the fight against climate change.

But, once this iconic forest is gone, it's gone forever. Speak up now to save the heart of the largest intact temperate rainforest left in the world. Send a message to the Trump administration today opposing their assault on the Tongass.

NRDC has been fighting a decades-long battle to defend the Tongass and other roadless forests from being ripped open by corporate interests and industrialization, and we aren't backing down now.

We need your help to raise a national outcry opposing their disastrous plan to weaken the Roadless Rule: Submit an official public comment before the December 17 deadline to save the Tongass National Forest from destruction.

Thank you for standing with us at this critical time.

Sincerely,

Niel Lawrence
Alaska Director and Senior Attorney, NRDC