Moonrise over the Tongass National Forest
The Esperanza reached the Tongass in August on its "Endangered
Forests, Endangered Freedoms" tour, investigating the threat posed
by the Bush administration's large-scale logging strategies to
forests across America. The tour has already met with resistance
from local authorities who have thrown many obstacles in its way,
including denying dock space for the ship to make the visit as
difficult as possible. However, many local community members
(including the indigenous Tlingit peoples) have thwarted those
efforts, going so far as to offer us their personal berth
spaces.
"Much of the community welcomes us and wants Greenpeace to stop
the destruction of this unique and beautiful forest," said Mel
Duchin, Greenpeace campaigner onboard the MV Esperanza. "The US may
try to silence the message but the American public will hear the
truth about its government's role in forest destruction loud and
clear."
Why Tongass needs protection
TNF is a remote coastal rainforest unparalleled anywhere on the
planet, home to awe-inspiring landscapes and robust populations of
grizzly bears, bald eagles, wild salmon, and other wildlife.
Stretching 500 miles along the Southeast Alaska coast, the 17
million-acre wilderness area is the largest intact temperate
rainforest in the world.
Over 1,000 mist-shrouded islands, narrow inlets, and
glacier-carved fjords punctuate its 11,000 miles of coastline.
Enormous Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and red and yellow cedar
dominate its ancient forests. These trees often grow to over 200
feet and live for more than 1,000 years. Set against a majestic
backdrop of coastal mountains towering up to 18,000 feet, the
rainforest of the Tongass is also home to diverse communities which
depend on the forest's resources for survival. Commercial fishing
and tourism are mainstays of the local economy, and the bounty of
the land and sea continues to feed rural families, many of whom
still lead a traditional subsistence way of life.
The island system and high mountains of the Tongass support a
wide variety of native wildlife. Much of the terrain is arduous and
difficult to penetrate. As a result many species have been isolated
for generations, creating wide genetic diversity and resulting in
an ecosystem even more rare and threatened than tropical
rainforests.
The highest density of grizzly bears in North America thrives in
the vast wild reaches of the Tongass. It's also home to the unique
blue bear and the rare Alexander Archipelago wolf, together with
thriving communities of other rarely seen animals such as
wolverines and black-tail deer.
Overhead fly magnificent birds such as the bald eagle and
northern goshawk. Ancient runs of all five species of wild Pacific
salmon return here each year, nurturing the forest and its
wildlife. Killer whales, humpback whales, porpoises, river and sea
otters all thrive in the forest's nutrient rich waters. The
surrounding ocean has healthy populations of Steller sea lions and
Marbled Murrelets, both listed as federally threatened, and its
old-growth forests are home to the Queen Charlotte goshawk, also
under consideration for federal Endangered Species protection.
A Brief History of Forest Crime - Tongass Style
Historically, the Tongass is most heavily logged of America's
national forests. Dense patchworks of roads and thousands of
clearcuts (created when an entire area of forest is felled, often
just to get at a few high value trees) have replaced its most
productive fish and wildlife habitat.
Since 1950, approximately one million acres of Southeast Alaska
have been clearcut. Over 70 percent of the biggest and best forest
has been logged, resulting in the loss of much of the most critical
wildlife habitat. Two pulp companies enjoyed exclusive, long-term
contracts to log the ancient forests of the Tongass, exporting
mainly to Japan. By the time large-scale logging peaked in the
1980s,annual cuts were as high as 480 MMBF (Million Board Feet) and
over 4,650 miles of roads had been built, primarily for logging
access. Due to a long-term decline in world pulp prices and
increasing public outcry, the two mills closed in the mid 1990s and
production fell dramatically.
But now plans are afoot to re-introduce industrial-scale
commercial logging. President Bush signalled his intentions in 2001
by giving former forestry industry lobbyist Mark E. Rey control
over the US Forest Service. Talk about putting the fox in charge of
the henhouse!
Backed by a White House that is hostile to wilderness protection
and an extremely pro-development Alaskan state legislature, the
Forest Service announced its intention to conduct 50 large-scale
timber sales in pristine areas of the Tongass in early 2003. The
targeted trees are mainly red and yellow cedar - which are in
long-term decline and regenerate very slowly - and the largest
old-growth spruce.
Ninety-five percent will be clearcut, and its sale disguised
behind fire prevention and post-fire salvage operations, pseudo
"forest health initiatives" and "restoration" programs. The Bush
administration and the Forest Service have manipulated the public's
fear of fire to undermine environmental laws and public process in
pushing their commercial logging and thinning agenda - these very
same activities are what have created younger, denser and more
fire-prone forests. The Forest Service is working hard to increase
the annual cut back up to over 200 MMBF.
Legally, these timber sales should all be prohibited under the
"Roadless Rule." Enacted by former President Clinton shortly before
leaving office, the rule bans logging and road building on 58.5
million acres of national forest land, and commands strong public
support. Just over half the Tongass National Forest (9.2 million
acres) is roadless area.
Introduction of the rule resulted in record low levels of
logging in the past two years. But the Bush administration has
indicated that it plans to undercut or eliminate the Roadless Rule
and has already proposed exempting the Tongass from the rule. The
logging and road building that the administration is pushing for in
these forests would destroy wildlife habitat, silt up world-class
salmon streams, and degrade forever the pristine character of
America's last great temperate rainforests.
If the Bush administration succeeds in derailing the Roadless
Rule, the Forest Service could sell a staggering 800 million board
feet (MMBF) of old-growth trees in the next three years. Their own
Tongass 10-year Timber Schedule calls for logging just under a
billion board feet from roadless areas by 2012.
Who benefits?
The wildness and remoteness of the Tongass makes it an expensive
place to log. In fact, the federal government loses taxpayer's
money on every tree it sells. The Tongass has been the biggest
money-losing national forest for the past 40 years, losing over $30
million annually on commercial timber sales. Consequently, the
Forest Service repeatedly says it has insufficient funding to pay
for recreation and tourism planning, or to do as much thinning as
it would like. Without massive tax subsidies, most logging
operations would have never taken place. The Bush administration's
moves to revitalize logging of the Tongass will only increase
taxpayer losses on government welfare to timber companies.
Repeated studies have shown that healthy forests provide far
greater economic benefits than do logged ones. Healthy ecosystem
qualities such as clean air and water, fish, wildlife and
recreation, generate far more jobs and economic benefits for
Tongass communities than timber dollars ever could.
More Information
Follow the MV Esperanza on the
Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms tour
Read more about the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule
Take Action Now!
Act
now to protect America's ancient forests