SOMETHING WORTH CELEBRATING

Promises of a protected Tongass

By Peak Design

July 20^th, 2021

It's easy to get bogged down in bad news about the environment but today we have something worth celebrating.

Last week, the Forest Service and USDA announced that they will work to restore protections of the Tongass National Forest, ending large-scale old growth timber sales. They went even further to announce a new comprehensive Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy. Given that one of the Tongass' many attributes includes being the largest carbon sink in America, we at Peak Design are thrilled.

Peak Design has been supporting conservation work in Southeast Alaska since 2017 when a group of us traveled there to document the proposed development of a new mine near Haines and better understand its impact on the surrounding community. In addition to producing our own film about the mine, Eternal Village, we also ended up supporting two filmmakers and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council in producing Irreparable Harm.

We continued supporting the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council through 1% for the Planet and by nominating them for a grant from The Conservation Alliance. We also sponsored the production of Rock Paper Fish which takes a closer look at how mining impacts Southeast Alaskan communities.

In 2018, Colin Arisman who directed Irreparable Harm and Rock Paper Fish approached us to share his concern with what was happening in the Tongass - large scare logging of old growth forest. He pointed out that very few folks knew about the Tongas, let alone what was happening there, and he wanted to change that. We agreed to sponsor his film, Understory, which follows the journey of Alaskan fisherman, Elsa Sebastian. The project took years to complete but resulted in a masterful and beautiful inside look at a local coming to terms with the destruction of her homeland.

During filming, the Trump administration moved forward with stripping the Tongass of its protections which opened over 9 million acres to the threat of logging. The film was released earlier this year with the hope of raising awareness and putting pressure on policy makers to reinstate protections for the forest.

And last week, this is exactly what happened. And we are beyond stoked.

In addition to being heartened by the decision of the government to reinstate protections, we are reminded of the role that grassroots efforts play in slowly but ultimately pushing policy in a direction that supports both people and the planet.

And as a company that makes film and photography gear, we're reminded of the role that visual storytelling plays in raising awareness and applying pressure. We look forward to continuing to support creatives in telling more of the stories that need to be told.