By Lane Worthing, Sidwell Friends School
Tongass National Forest, located in southeast Alaska, is the largest national forest in the US. As seen in the documentary Understory, it is a beautiful old growth forest made up of western hemlock, sitka spruce, and western red cedar trees, many of which have been storing carbon for hundreds of years– and it is in danger. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the Roadless Rule Act prevented logging in 9 million acres of the forest from 2001-2020, but the Trump administration reversed those limits, opening the Tongass up to destruction. Now, however, the Biden administration is trying to undo that decision. The public comment period on restoring the Roadless Rule Act for the Tongass ends on Monday, Jan. 24, so if you want to help preserve the Tongass National Forest, go to laststands.org/action and submit a comment!
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