A great horned owl weighs down the branch of an 800-year-old Sitka Spruce tree. A Steller’s jay ruffles its iridescent navy feathers before taking wing among the treetops. A mama bear takes her grizzly cubs to the bay to catch a fish dinner.
Welcome to the Tongass.
It’s the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest — but it won’t be for long if the logging companies get their way.
Encompassing sweeping fjords, snow-capped mountains and lush islands, the Tongass is the crown jewel of the national forest system. It supports a vast array of wildlife — including flying squirrels, sandhill cranes and the elusive Alexander Archipelago gray wolf.
Trouble in the Tongass
However, this dizzying variety of wildlife can’t be taken for granted. Today, the Tongass is facing enormous threats from logging. The timber industry is targeting the same mature and old-growth trees that shelter nesting songbirds and store over 9.9 billion tons of carbon.
The Forest Service has already approved a logging project that will cut down 430 acres of old-growth trees.
And it’s not the only old-growth forests on the chopping block. Logging projects across the country are pending right now.
Our advocacy for the Tongass spans decades.
Alongside environmental groups across the country, our national network helped secure the Roadless Rule in 2001, which safeguarded 58.5 million acres of American forests from road construction and timber harvesting.
But our work is far from over. Much of the Tongass remains open for logging and we need your help to protect this precious forest.
Help protect the Tongass with a donation to Environment America.
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Ellen runs campaigns to protect America’s beautiful places, from local beachfronts to remote mountain peaks. She sits on the Steering Committee of the Arctic Defense Campaign and co-coordinates the Climate Forests Campaign. Ellen previously worked as the organizing director for Environment America’s Climate Defenders campaign and managed grassroots campaign offices across the country. Ellen lives in Denver, where she likes to hike in Colorado’s mountains.
