We have an important update: Donald Trump is advancing a new logging project in the Tongass National Forest — targeting the largest national forest in the United States with carbon-dense old-growth forests for utter destruction.
Once again, Trump is putting corporate profits ahead of our environment and selling off our public lands to the highest bidder. President Teddy Roosevelt would be ashamed!
SEEC Members on the Natural Resources Committee, led by Rep. Andrea Salinas, have personally visited the Tongass National Forest and have introduced a new bill — the Roadless Area Conservation Act — that would permanently protect 58.5 million acres of national forests, including the Tongass, from logging and road construction.
The Tongass National Forest is called the “Crown Jewel” of the National Forest System — it’s massive and spans approximately 16.7 million acres (or about 26,000 square miles.) It’s the world’s largest remaining temperate forest with ancient trees over 800 years old and home to Native communities and animals such as bears, salmon, and America’s iconic bald eagles.
It also has a major ecological significance: It’s one of the world’s most effective “carbon sinks” storing more carbon per acre than almost any other forest on Earth and making it a critical tool for saving our planet from climate change.
But now, Donald Trump is planning to launch a new logging project to cut down the forest and misplace the habitat that currently lives there.