Road to Nowhere

Tell the DOA to uphold the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest.

By Peak Design

December 12^th, 2019

If you haven't heard of Alaska's Tongass National Forest, you should.

It is our country's largest National Forest and part of the Earth's largest intact temperate rainforest. In addition to being an ecological treasure deserving of our stewardship, the Tongass sequesters 8% of the US’s carbon emissions, making it a key component to US climate change mitigation.

In 2001, 9-million acres of the Tongass were protected by the Roadless Rule; a federal rule that prohibits road building and logging in roadless National Forest. In Southeast Alaska, the Roadless Rule is critical for protecting what remains of the original large tree old-growth, half of which has been logged. Unfortunately, the State of Alaska is working to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule.

Nowhere else is ancient rainforest threatened to be clearcut on our public lands, and time is running out to save it.

The administration is trying to lift Roadless Rule protections from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Roadless Rule protects 9.2 million acres of the forest from road-building and logging.

The Tongass is a salmon stronghold; each year commercial fishermen catch 49 million salmon that were spawned in rainforest streams.

Elsa Sebastian with an ancient cedar tree. On Prince of Wales, over 90% of the old-growth forest is gone.

Peak Design is supporting filmmaker Colin Arisman in the production of his short film documenting the Tongass and the locals working to protect it, including young activist and fisherman, Elsa Sebastian, who embarks on her sailboat to bear witness to the destruction of her home. She recently co-authored a piece for the The Seattle Times explaining,

"This year, in response to top-down directives, the Forest Service has proposed a total exemption of the Tongass from the Roadless Rule.

This action is justified by a disingenuous claim that Roadless protections are stifling economic growth in Southeast Alaska.

The fact is, the Roadless Rule is working for Southeast Alaska. Exemptions have been consistently granted when needed, for community access and hydroelectric development, for example. It’s pretty clear to Southeast Alaskans that this process is happening at the behest of a couple timber companies whose business models rely on round-log export to Asia. The so-called timber industry that Alaska’s politicians romanticize collapsed years before the Roadless Rule was put into effect. It’s important to remember that the timber industry has been less than 1% of our regional economy for decades. Since the decline of timber, the Southeast Alaska economy has diversified, and tourism has grown significantly—now tourism jobs outnumber timber jobs 20 to 1."

A recent clear cut on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. Lands, once protected under the federal Roadless Rule, have been transferred through legislative action to private corporations to log.

Not only do the logged lands lose value to wildlife, the roads create long-term problems like adding sedimentation in salmon streams and introduction of invasive species.

A Hong Kong-flagged transport vessel is loaded with logs on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Most of the timber harvested in Southeast Alaska is exported to Asia.

The Conservation Alliance, of which Peak Design is a member, has identified upholding the National Roadless Rule as a top priority through 2020. We joined 51 other member companies on a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue earlier this year condemning the proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule, which would not only threaten the Tongass but set a dangerous precedent for forests across our nation.

You might be thinking, "This is a bummer but what can I do?"

From now until December 17th, we strongly urge you to submit a comment to the United States Department of Agriculture.

This important public comment is required by law, will be considered by the USDA in its production of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, and most importantly will be filed publicly and used to defend the Tongass should litigation happen.