We Are Up to Bat Again, Protecting the Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest is quite special in the world of national forests. Not only is it the largest in the U.S. (at approx. 17 million acres), but it also happens to be the most intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world.

Groups are currently in a back-and-forth battle to protect the forest via the “Roadless Rule.”

The Tongass was re-protected in January 2023 under the “Roadless Rule” which prohibits logging and logging roads in national forests. This is especially important as areas in this forest are home to some of America’s last “old-growth” trees (trees over approximately 150 years old).

Pockets of old-growth trees contribute greatly as a natural habitat for certain species as well as providing larger benefits to the earth by way of carbon storage.

While the overall battle has been going on for decades, a spur of September 2023 lawsuits to remove the Tongass’ protections has The Boat Company and others teaming together to intervene.

Spearheaded by the Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council, a coalition of Alaska Native Tribes, The Boat Company and other local businesses and conservation advocates has formed to challenge these lawsuits formally in a January 2024 press release.

“By managing roadless areas for outdoor recreation, local communities benefit, and visitors emerge refreshed by the well-known physical and emotional benefits of forest recreation.

By preserving intact forests, policies such as the Roadless Rule provide economic benefits that outweigh industrial, extractive uses and protect important ecosystem service values such as carbon storage and sequestration, and fisheries and wildlife,” states Hunter McIntosh, President of The Boat Company.

Read the Center for Biological Diversity’s January 2024 press release regarding our joined action to protect the Tongass National Forest, once again.