Supporter,
When the Trump Administration announced it planned to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule, we knew it would threaten the world's largest intact temperate rainforest with massively destructive road building, logging, and extraction. But we didn't know how bad it would be.
Now, the Forest Service has unveiled its exemption plan, which would slash protections for over 9 million acres of the Tongass—an area bigger than Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.
This plan would not only destroy acres of pristine old-growth rainforest, it would set a dangerous precedent for forests across the country. If corporations can use their influence to force open the Tongass to clearcuts—then no national forest is safe.
Supporter, there's still something we can do. We're mobilizing our networks during this public comment period. We've already generated over 35,000 comments opposing the plan and recruited allies who appeared to testify against the plan at 19 hearings in Alaska and Washington, DC. We're supporting Sen. Maria Cantwell's bill to stop state-level exemptions to the Roadless Rule and organized 74 organizations in opposition to the proposed rule change including indigenous leaders and commercial fishermen from the region. But we still need your support with a monthly gift.
Make your monthly donation to the Sierra Club today, so we can do absolutely everything possible to save these invaluable natural places. Your monthly gift will unlock an extra $50 MATCH and you'll get our Parks Project Socks FREE!
The Roadless Rule has protected the Tongass—and millions more acres of National Forest System land—from building and logging for 20 years. But with a stroke of a pen they would threaten the wolves, northern goshawks, and five species of salmon that call the Tongass home. It would also be devastating to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people who rely on the land for cultural and traditional practices like hunting and fishing.
The Tongass—like all forests—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 Brasil to protect the Amazonian rainforest to help avert the climate crisis, we need to protect our own rainforest in Alaska for the same reason.
Become a monthly donor today to protect the Tongass, our national forests, and wild places across the country.
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 forests that are one of our best tools for stopping the climate crisis.
With determination to save our beautiful public lands before they're gone forever,
Lena Moffitt
Senior Director, Our Wild America
Sierra Club
Photo: NPS/Andrew Malone | 
