Save America's Wildest National Forest

[Ladywriter 7,783]

The Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is a crown jewel of our nation's public lands. Wild salmon, grizzly bears, bald eagles, and wolves thrive among the millions of acres of lush, ancient forests and healthy, intact watersheds. The Tongass also features over 9 million acres of roadless forest lands -- heritage forests that are critical to the survival of many of the species that make their home there.

In a last-minute attack on one of America's wildest and most ecologically valuable national forests, the Bush administration recently adopted a new management plan for the Tongass that leaves 2.3 million acres of pristine roadless areas open to logging, road building, and other development. If implemented, this plan will jeopardize many of the species the Center -- and our e-activists -- have worked to protect. This plan is only the last in a long series of attempts by the current administration to remove protection for the undeveloped roadless lands of the Tongass and across the country.

On May 15, the Center, along with our conservation allies, filed an administrative challenge to the Bush plan asking the Forest Service to protect the roadless areas of the Tongass. Now it's your turn. Please send a letter to Gail Kimbell, chief of the Forest Service, and urge the agency to protect the roadless areas on the Tongass and across the nation.

Visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24738 to take action.

[Sabe 2,444]

What's worse is the Administration is using the pretext of logging and roads to remove the protection. The primary plan is actually to get the protection lifted so oil drilling can begin there, and the same plan is also underway for certian protected areas in the Pacific and Atlantic.