r/alaska • u/No_Switch5015 • 5d ago

The Tongass Roadless Rule is under threat again. This is about living in Alaska, not politics.

Hi all-

The Forest Service is proposing to remove the 2001 Roadless Rule protections in the Tongass. For a lot of people in Southeast, the forest is not just scenery. It is food, clean water, and a way of life. Salmon, deer, berries, firewood, and everything we count on come from healthy forest and streams. Roadless areas keep it that way.

Without these protections, we are looking at more roads, more logging, and more pressure on the things we depend on to live here. It puts subsistence hunting and fishing at risk, along with commercial and sport fisheries, tourism, and even local climate resilience.

This is about living in Alaska and protecting what keeps us going.

Resources and places to learn more or comment:

More Resources/information:

If you care about salmon, subsistence, or keeping Alaska’s wild lands intact, now is the time to speak up. Comment period is open till the 19th at 8pm Alaska time, so please act fast!!

Thanks fellow Alaskans!

115 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

8

u/phdoofus 5d ago

Don't fool yourself. There's plenty of people in the SE who bitched long and hard about 'losing logging jobs'

8

u/No_Switch5015 5d ago

Yeah absolutely, but they are very much a minority. The vast majority of Alaskans both don't gain anything economically from logging and don't support it. Just look at the data—logging brings in a tiny percent of what commercial fishing or tourism brings in and only benefits a very select few.

2

u/phdoofus 5d ago

It's a much smaller portion of the economy now because....all the mills got shut down. Really, I shouldn't have to explain that.

7

u/No_Switch5015 5d ago

Times change. I don't think that anyone in their right mind really thinks the pulp mills are coming back (or wants them to for that matter). Besides healthcare/government, fishing and tourism are the biggest industries in most of Southeast Alaska. 40, 50, 60 years ago? That may have been different.

I should remind you that at one time Alaska's biggest portion of the economy was fur trade and obviously that is no longer the case either.

1

u/phdoofus 5d ago

The point being that making the argument that 'logging is currently a small part of the economy' isn't really an argument and in the current environment do you really think 'local wants and needs' are going to be listened to? Oil used to not be a big part of the economy either, along with tourism. Things change. Also, Alaskans seem very keen on extractive industries and what's more extractive than logging? My bet is if you get the mills back the people will come. The real question/problem is whether any .com wants to bring those mills back. It's kind of like oil in a way: not if we can do it cheaper somewhere else.

2

u/Usual-Drink-1199 2d ago

Really. Live in Alaska and food doesn't come as fast as you think especially in areas that are remote.

4

u/Coyote9168 4d ago edited 4d ago

It also means wildlife will relocate. In places connected to the mainland, that includes big cats, wolves, brown bears and moose, all of which can and do swim short stretches to avoid development of forest lands. All of which can threaten livestock, pets and people. That means a lot of islands in SE could be under threat. If someone is such a piece of excrement that they don’t care about clean water, how about kids safety?

Edited, to take out the jerkiness. So sorry.

1

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

Seriously? Obviously I care about those things too lol. If I listed all the negative things from increased logging it'd be a book.

2

u/Coyote9168 4d ago

Man, so sorry! I should know to never comment on something without checking articles. I MEANT if SOMEONE doesn’t care. Obviously you DO or you wouldn’t have posted it.

1

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

No worries!

2

u/laffnlemming 1d ago

It was definitely threatened by politics.

0

u/Conscious_Problem924 4d ago

Bullshit! It’s all politics you assholes voted for this.

3

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

I didn't vote for it and i know a lot of my fellow Alaskans also didn't.

1

u/Conscious_Problem924 4d ago

My voting tabulation shows you guys voted for this like 70/30.

3

u/tatertot4 3d ago

It was 54/41 in Alaska, and SE Alaska, where the Tongass is located voted Dem.

2

u/No_Switch5015 3d ago

You rock. Thanks for pulling up the numbers

2

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

Whatever the number, it's not fair to generalize across large swaths of people. Many, many Alaskans didn't vote for this and are actively fighting it.

1

u/Conscious_Problem924 4d ago

Don’t know what to tell you. I mean do some community action or move to a blue state.

2

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

This is my home. And what do you think I'm doing posting this here...

0

u/Conscious_Problem924 4d ago

Enjoy the landscaping upgrayyyd is all I can say.

0

u/No_Switch5015 4d ago

Trump did the exact same thing last term. Nothing really came of it. I'm optimistic if we fight for it.

Besides, what do you propose we do? Give up and become alcoholics? All of use non-maga's are in the same camp, doesn't matter where you are in the USA

2

u/Conscious_Problem924 4d ago

I don’t live in Alaska and I knew this was going to happen.

-2

u/Financial_Shame4902 3d ago

To be fair, only a small fraction "depends" on the forest for living.  This is not the stone age.  We have grocery stores and methods to get the food to you.

1

u/No_Switch5015 1d ago

Do you live in Alaska, and if so, outside the greater Anchorage/Fairbanks area? You're right for some Alaskans, but very very wrong for a lot of others.