Don't Stump Tongass National Forest's Potential
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Alaska Report Part II is Out
This week, videographer Madison Hughes and I released Part II of our CFACT Conservation Nation.
The Tongass National Forest is a vast 17 million acre rainforest marked by lush cedar, Sitka spruce, waterfalls, flora, and fauna.
On January 27th, 2023, the Biden administration announced it’s restricting activities like mining, hydropower, geothermal and road construction in the Tongass National Forest–revoking a 2020 rule that would have granted an exemption.
The USDA claims 9.37 million acres of roadless areas will be permanently protected to “support the ecological, economic and cultural values of Southeastern Alaska.” But locals disagree with the decision, arguing it’ll have negative economic effects and undermine natural resources management.
I spoke to Jim Clark, a Juneau-based attorney and former chief-of-staff to Governor Murkowski, Alaska policy analyst Sarah Montalbano, and Rick Whitbeck, Alaska state director for Power the Future, about the implications of this policy.
Watch our Tongass report below:
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—Gabriella