Spanning 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, together with the adjacent Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, form the largest temperate rainforest on Earth. The Tongass—the traditional homelands of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tshimsian peoples—encompasses glacial fjords, rich estuaries, countless streams, and lush valleys backing into spectacularly rugged mountains and sprawling forests of majestic cedar, spruce, and hemlock.
The Tongass “hosts about 70% of the species known to occur in Alaska, or about 40% of the bird species found in North America,” according to Audubon Alaska’s Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska. Those species include Audubon Alaska WatchList birds like the Marbled Murrelet, Aleutian Tern, and Varied Thrush. Additional species, ranging from the Bald Eagle to Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Greater Yellowlegs, Red-breasted Sapsucker, and Pigeon Guillemot, can all be found along the Southeast Alaska Birding Trail that covers 18 communities and dozens of diverse habitat types. The Tongass also supports all five species of Pacific salmon, black and brown bears, wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, and abundant populations of other fish and wildlife.
Logging over the last century, however, has substantially affected the Tongass by removing old-growth stands of large trees, which are irreplaceable for fish, wildlife, and ecosystem integrity. Old-growth forests are unrenewable resources, as they take several centuries to mature, and over half of all old-growth, large-tree stands have been removed from the Tongass. In addition to the removal of the highest quality habitat, logging brings in a network of roads, which causes a myriad of harmful impacts.
While the Tongass still has an outstanding abundance and diversity of wildlife, its most important places are at risk. Some within the logging industry and certain agencies continue to focus on the harvest of old-growth stands within the region’s remaining intact watersheds. These watersheds and their estuaries link the terrestrial and marine environments of the Tongass, and together, their feedback loops support exceptionally productive ecosystems.
In the face of climate change, the Tongass National Forest provides us with the greatest opportunity in the nation for protecting temperate rainforest at the ecosystem scale. The Tongass is the country’s largest forest carbon sink, holding approximately 20% of all carbon stored in the United States’ National Forest System. Ensuring the Tongass National Forest’s protection and stewardship is a win for both climate and biodiversity.
Our work to protect the Tongass focuses on the intersection of place, people, and the need for policy that protects and restores this incredible rainforest for future generations.
Why preserving more than two decades of conservation is sound policy
A new push for more oil and gas drilling, mining, and logging threatens irreparable damage to irreplaceable habitats.
A beginner’s guide to old-growth forests and the historical moves made to conserve Southeast Alaska’s temperate rainforest.
