The battle over Alaska’s wondrous Tongass National Forest is best understood from above, soaring over it in a floatplane. In one moment, the panoramic view reveals the world’s largest remaining tracts of lush, old-growth temperate rainforest. The next vista captures massive clear cuts, the controversial legacy of four decades of timber harvesting.
To preserve what is left in areas like the Tongass, President Bill Clinton signed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in his final days in office. The sweeping measure protected 58.5 million acres, or about one-third of national forest land, from roads that are built for recreation, timber harvesting, and coal, gas and oil development.
Without roads, development can’t come.
Environmentalists hailed the rule as a breakthrough in public-lands preservation. Although the Bush administration promised to uphold the Roadless Rule, it later proposed exempting Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach forests-the two largest forests in the country-to allow road building and timber harvesting, help local economies and remove barriers to development.
In July, a U.S. District Court judge in Wyoming struck down Clinton’s rule, calling it an attempt to create wilderness areas, something only Congress can do. The Bush administration has not appealed the judge’s decision and announced it would replace the Clinton-era rule.
Already, more than 380,000 miles of taxpayer-subsidized roads crisscross America’s national forests, more than eight times the size of the federal interstate highway system. Forest roads are used for timber harvesting, fire suppression, facility maintenance, wildlife habitat improvement projects, law enforcement and search and rescue missions.
But roads also increase the chances of polluting streams and rivers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The vast Tongass, three times the size of any other national forest, sprawls across 17 million acres and includes unique habitats and ecosystems, including ice fields, coastal forests, glaciers, snowcapped peaks and a 500-mile long chain of islands, ranging from small, rocky reefs to heavily forested landmasses. One such landmass is Prince of Wales Island, where choice timber has fueled the controversy over roads.
If the Roadless Rule is lifted, logging would be allowed on about 330,000 of the 9.6 million acres of roadless area in Tongass. Old-growth reserves would be protected, according to the Forest Service.
Conservation groups argue that the old-growth areas will be vulnerable. Although 330,000 acres is a small fraction of the forest’s 17 million acres, the area in question contains the oldest, most valuable old-growth trees. Meanwhile, approximately two-thirds of the Tongass is covered with bare rock, glaciers, wetlands and scrub timber and isn’t suitable for logging.
In a letter to Bush supporting the roadless policy, 24 scientists argued that clearcutting old growth will permanently reduce its habitat value for brown bears, wolves and wild salmon, species that largely have disappeared elsewhere in the country. Building new roads will further fragment the ecosystem.
“There is no scientific basis to exclude the Tongass or Chugach national forests from the national roadless policy,” they wrote. “The [roadless] policy is based on a solid foundation of science and will do much to safeguard the ecological integrity of Alaska’s coastal forest ecosystem.”
– – –
THE ISSUE:
The Clinton administration banned new road building on 58.5 million acres of national forests in 38 states.
RECENT ACTION:
The Bush administration has proposed exempting Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach National Forests from the Roadless Rule.
‘If they pass the Roadless Rule, there will be no more high-quality doors and windows.’
— Kirk Dahlstrom, sawmill owner, Prince of Wales Island
‘Taking out the best of what’s left will have a severe impact on the ecological integrity of Tongass.’
— John Schoen, senior scientist with Audubon Alaska
———-
THE AUTHORS OF THIS REPORT
Pete Souza is the Tribune’s national photographer, based in the Washington bureau. He traveled to 13 states during the last year to take the photographs in this report.
Julie Deardorff is a staff reporter who has written extensively about health and the environment.
