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Latest Posts tagged with "Tongass National Forest"

Repairing nature’s infrastructure with ecological restoration

October 12, 2011 By Evan Hjerpe, Ph.D.

A decommissioned road in Muir Woods National Monument

Credit: Anne Merwin

There has been a lot of talk lately about the nation’s crumbling manmade infrastructure, such as failing bridges, aging highways and faltering transmission lines. But what about our failing natural infrastructure -- our polluted air and waterways, diminishing biodiversity, and unhealthy forests that are the result of unfettered development and short-sighted planning? Read more

Alaska’s Ancient Rainforest: Why restoring the Tongass is good for everyone

January 26, 2011 By Rebecca Bright

Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Photo by John Schoen.

The Southeastern panhandle of Alaska is a uniquely remote, stunning place — a network of more than 1,000 islands, jagged coastlines, and dense, mist-shrouded forests that have been home to thriving human, animal, and plant communities for millennia. Nearly 80% of this wild region, 16.8 million acres, is the Tongass National Forest, the largest primarily intact temperate rainforest in the world. Region:  Alaska Read more

Tongass National Forest: Better days ahead for Alaska’s ancient rainforest?

June 4, 2010 By

Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska stands ancient and giant. Encompassing 17 million acres that stretch across thousands of islands and cliffs, including rivers surging with salmon, the Tongass is the nation’s largest national forest and the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforest. Its lands provide habitat to hundreds of species, including brown bears, whales, wolves, and bald eagles. And for the people of southeast Alaska, the Tongass provides food, recreation opportunities, and the foundation that keeps cultural richness alive. Read more

How our science is helping save the Tongass National Forest

July 28, 2009 By Anne Gore

Etolin Island in Alaska. Courtesy USGS.

Yesterday, The Wilderness Society celebrated a small but meaningful victory in our ongoing efforts to protect America’s largest national forest — the Tongass National Forest. Read more

Hope surfaces for restoring Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

June 11, 2009 By

Old growth in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Courtesy Sitka Conservation Society.

Returning to my desk in Anchorage after working in the field is not always easy, especially after the kind of success and inspiration I experienced in May. I was on Prince of Wales Island, the largest island in Southeast Alaska and the heart of the Tongass National Forest. Here, as in so many other places in the region, rural communities are struggling with declining populations and timber harvests, forests and streams degraded by past logging, and longstanding conflict over how best to manage the forest and its resources. Read more