In 2001 America recognized the environmental, economic and cultural significance of over 58 million acres at the heart of our national forests and granted them additional protections known as the Roadless Rule.
Last month, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to advance reversing the Roadless Rule, which would open millions of acres of federal lands to industrial development. The U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz falsely claimed that America’s flourishing national forests are “dangerously overstocked.” Reversing the Roadless Rule would open up 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest, and 5.4 million acres of the Chugach National Forest to development, allowing for roads and structures that will have negative impacts that will last many lifetimes. Contrary to what Trump administration officials believe, if the Tongass, Chugach, and other national forests are “overstocked,” then society has a cultural and economic responsibility to keep it that way.
For thousands of years, the Tongass National Forest has provided for the people and wildlife who have lived below its canopies and along its shorelines. National forests are managed to create optimal resources for uses including fishing, logging, subsistence and sport hunting. The lands protected by the Roadless Rule are the delicate habitats that allow the rest of the forests to thrive.
Resource development, while sometimes necessary, almost inevitably changes or destroys habitats essential to the flora and fauna humans depend on. The nutrients from the forests are responsible for the health of the waters that make up our fisheries, which contributes more than $6 billion annually to Alaska’s economy. Tourism from the Inside Passage through the Tongass National Forest contributes to the $5.6 billion in economic output for Alaska each year. The national forests are also vital to recreation such as sport fishing and hunting. The elimination of the Roadless Rule would immediately impact the ways we are able to feed ourselves and our children.
Reversing the Roadless Rule will not only damage the economy Alaskans depend on, but threaten thousands of years of heritage. Since time immemorial generations of Alaska Natives have thrived based on the health of the forests. So far, several resolutions have been passed by the Organized Village of Kasaan, the Organized Village of Kake, and the Hoonah Indian Association, amongst others, supporting the Roadless Rule. As former President Bill Clinton noted when the protection was enacted, the vital ecosystems leave an inheritance for our children and our grandchildren. An inheritance that local leaders have long stewarded.
With a government focused on putting profits over people, it is no surprise that Secretary Rollins would prefer to use the 58 million acres for short-term commercial interests. The American public should be outraged at the prospect of tarnishing our national forests and potentially depleting their resources forever. The national forests are not “overstocked” — they are performing a vital function to support our everyday livelihoods.
By disturbing the delicate ecosystems at the hearts of our national forests we would be denying future generations a vital inheritance. Americans will instead be left with destroyed lands, dirty air, soiled waterways, and depleted resources.
As the public comment period for the Roadless Rule revision comes to a close on Sept. 19, we all have the opportunity to speak out to continue to protect national forests of Alaska and across the country for the sake of our environment, economy and our heritage.
Ariel Hasse-Zamudio is currently the executive director of the Alaskan Energy Infrastructure Project, an initiative to identify policy goals for renewable energy in Alaska. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Caltech and is a published author, with research experience in hydrogen storage and perovskites solar cell technology. Ariel is a lifelong Alaskan, currently living in Juneau.
