FW: [UPDATE] Biden moves to save America's largest wild forest!

 Thanks in part to pressure from activists and supporters like you, the Biden administration announced it is moving to restore protections to Alaska's Tongass National Forest — America's largest wild forest!

Read more about the administration's decision and what's next on NRDC.org.

This is the first step toward saving the Tongass, which is vital to the region's Indigenous communities and wildlife, and a critical tool for fighting the climate crisis.

You might remember that before leaving office, Trump stripped protections from millions of acres of the Tongass, leaving the largest intact temperate rainforest left in the world vulnerable to the ravages of large-scale, industrial logging.

Now we're counting on the Biden administration to follow through on its promise to undo Trump's damage. Later this summer, they will begin the mandatory rule-making process and a final decision will follow.

I can't thank you enough for speaking up in defense of the irreplaceable Tongass. And stay tuned — you can be sure that NRDC will alert you when we need you to weigh in on the administration's proposal.

We're not at the finish line yet — but we are well on our way.

With gratitude,

Niel Lawrence
Alaska Director and Senior Attorney, NRDC

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: NRDC – Niel Lawrence  Subject: [TAKE ACTION] Here's your chance to save America's largest wild forest Call on the Biden Administration to Restore Protections for America's Largest Wild Forest Help save the Tongass from an onslaught of taxpayer-subsidized clear-cutting that would have devastating effects on our climate: Send a letter asking the Biden administration to restore protections gutted by the Trump administration.

Before leaving office, Trump stripped protections from millions of acres of the largest intact temperate rainforest left in the world: Alaska's Tongass National Forest. This blatant giveaway to logging companies and other industries is not only an egregious attack on our shared public lands and Alaska's Indigenous communities who have called the Tongass home for generations, but it is also an attack on our climate. The Tongass's countless groves of irreplaceable old growth trees store more carbon per acre than almost any other forest on the planet, making it an absolutely critical tool in the fight against climate change. Tell the Biden administration to take swift action to restore protections for Alaska's Tongass National Forest so that we can save this cherished land from an onslaught of industrial development. Please send your letter now >> The Trump administration gutted protections for the Tongass last year by rolling back the Roadless Rule, which protected these wildlands and Native ways of life from the ravages of large-scale, industrial logging by prohibiting the building of roads and timber harvesting. It's largely because of the Roadless Rule that today this 17 million-acre forest is teeming with wildlife and mostly free of roads and logging. The forest is home to species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf, brown and black bears, salmon, and the world's largest breeding concentration of bald eagles. But now that could all change — with the Roadless Rule no longer protecting the Tongass, the door is open for logging companies to rapidly clear-cut these ancient trees to bolster their profits and developers to bulldoze roads deep into pristine reserves. We must put a stop to this now before it's too late. Send an email to President Biden's administration telling them to act immediately to reinstate the Roadless Rule. NRDC has been fighting a decades-long battle to defend the Tongass from being ripped open by corporate interests and industrialization, and when the Trump administration rolled back protections last year, we joined with Indigenous communities and rushed to court to stop them. We'll keep fighting in and out of court for the Tongass, all our cherished wildlands, and the Native communities whose entire way of life depends on these lands — but we need your help. Thanks for standing with us. Sincerely,   Niel Lawrence Alaska Director and Senior Attorney, NRDC Natural Resources Defense Council | 40 West 20th Street | New York, NY 10011 www.nrdc.org Biden Administration Starts to Restore Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest June 11, 2021 NRDC  The move would reverse one of Trump’s numerous environmental rollbacks, which had opened half of this pristine wilderness to industry. View from the top of Harbor Mountain toward Baranof and Kruzof islands, near Sitka, Alaska, in the Tongass National Forest Blaine Harrington III/Getty Images UPDATE: On July 15, 2021, the Biden administration took a critical step toward reasserting U.S. climate leadership and finally recognizing that Southeast Alaska has long since moved on from destroying old-growth forests to support itself. In a long overdue step, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed robust consultation and partnership with Indigenous communities to determine a sustainable future for the region. It is essential that the administration follow through on this necessary component of any action to protect the area's natural resources. Additionally, USDA is proposing to fully restore Roadless Rule protections and end large-scale old growth timber sales on the Tongass National Forest. In tandem, it is also proposing a $25 million investment in sustainable economic opportunities, with particular focus on investments that are responsive to Indigenous needs. In welcome news for Native tribes, the climate, wildlife, and local businesses, the Biden administration began a much-needed process to reinstate critical protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.  The swath of coastal temperate rainforest had been under attack by Trump’s U.S. Forest Service, which, at the eleventh hour, exempted more than half of the Tongass from the Roadless Rule, a Clinton-era law that prevents logging, road-building, and similarly destructive development on tens of millions of acres of forest wildlands across the country. “This is the first step toward saving America’s last big rainforest, which is vital and precious to Alaska Native tribes, fish, and wildlife,” says Niel Lawrence, Alaska director for NRDC. “We're counting on the Biden team to follow through and restore full protection to Tongass wildlands. That would show true leadership on climate and our public lands heritage. And it would hugely benefit the recreation, tourism, and commercial fishing industries that are the region’s economic lifeblood.” NRDC, alongside Earthjustice, represents a coalition of Indigenous groups, local businesses, and other environmental organizations that quickly sued the Trump administration in an attempt to block the rollback. The case has been on hold while the Biden administration decides how to proceed. Hoonah, Alaska, the largest Tlingit village in Alaska Bernard Spragg via Flickr Native Alaskan communities—including the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people—have relied on the intact forest for food and medicine and to sustain traditional ways of life for millennia. “The Tongass national forest needs to be protected, and the Roadless Rule needs to be reinstated,” says Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake, a federally recognized tribe and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Our way of life depends on an intact old-growth forest. Our customary and traditional use of the Tongass is vital to our people.” Home to iconic species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf and all five species of Pacific salmon, the Tongass also features the highest density of brown bears and nesting bald eagles in North America. The Tongass National Forest features the highest density of nesting bald eagles and brown bears in North America. From left: Michele Parker/USFS; Mark Meyer/USFS Protecting this massive forest’s old-growth trees is also critical climate policy: The Tongass is a dense carbon sink, storing more carbon per acre in its centuries-old trees than almost any other forest on the planet. Deforestation and degradation of the trees and soil would release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, fueling the climate crisis.  “The Tongass is a place of both majestic beauty and great importance to Native Alaskans—it’s irreplaceable,” Lawrence says. “The Biden administration must swiftly restore full protection to the forest's wildlands and all they support. This is one of the last places on Earth we can allow to be destroyed for the sake of logging profits.”