A Love Letter to the Tongass National Forest
Dan Cannon is the Tongass Forest Program Manager at the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
Nine years ago, as I stepped off the ferry in Hollis, Alaska, on Prince of Wales Island, I had no idea I was entering the heart of the Tongass National Forest or that the experience would change my life.
My friend Neil (aka “Durco”) could best be described as a friendly, intellectual eco-pirate. Neil was a friend from college, whose boisterous voice sounded flawless through a bullhorn as we advocated together on campus for positive environmental change. After college, I continued with activism while Neil leaned into science, and as a result Neil found himself working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a hydrologist technician that summer. He was working to restore salmon streams that had been degraded by decades of old-growth clear cut logging across the island.
Neil greeted me at the ferry with the biggest grin on his face and howled with excitement. Soon we were in his two-door, rickety red Honda Civic, tearing down the first U.S. Forest Service dirt road Neil could find, bottoming out along the way.
Neil introduced me to the wonders of the Tongass. Over the next three days he would lead me down a small game trail to a salmon stream where we watched a black bear catch lunch, row us out to a Forest Service cabin in the middle of Honker Lake, and buy me my first pair of Xtratufs — the official shoe of Southeast Alaska.
Neil was fascinated with the natural world and was eager to share his ecological expertise and love for public lands with his friends. Just as everyone does, I easily fell head over heels for the Tongass National Forest. At nearly 17 million acres, the rich landscape is a wonderland of glacier-carved fjords; thick green forests of old-growth hemlock, spruce, and cedar; spongey carpets of muskeg and expansive fields of rock and glaciers. There is a reason millions of tourists flock to Southeast Alaska every summer. Spanning across the entire southeastern panhandle of Alaska, the archipelago of intact temperate rainforest is a must-see before you die.
I suppose Neil’s passion for the lush wet forest rubbed off, because years later here I am working to fight expensive roads-to-nowhere from being built, stop large old-growth clear cutting timber sales, and ensure that existing federal protections — like the Roadless Rule — remain on the Tongass National Forest.
I want future generations to be able to have the Tongass experience Neil gave me. One that includes critical old-growth habitat for Alexander Archipelago wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, black and brown bears, and bald eagles. A future that fosters healthy salmon spawning streams, so that the Tongass can continue to provide 25% of the entire West Coast annual salmon harvest. Neil and his crackly laugh didn’t have time for bullshit; he anchored his beliefs in science and he would have been upset if I didn’t mention climate change. The Tongass acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing more carbon than any other National Forest. Natural carbon sinks like the Tongass are crucial for future generations as they help mitigate against the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
A little more than a year ago, Neil tragically died in a freak accident, doing what brought him the most joy, recreating on Alaska’s public lands. My love for the Tongass is a little bit deeper these days, with every step among the dense fields of Devil’s Club, breadth of damp air, and beam of light shining through the canopy of 800 year-old trees serving as a memory, love, and appreciation for Neil.
This week, the Trump administration removed Roadless Rule protections from the Tongass, which means vast swaths of irreplaceable old-growth temperate rainforest will now be open to clear cut logging and roadbuilding. It will cost federal taxpayers money and negatively impact Southeast Alaska’s real regional economic drivers: tourism and fishing, responsible for 26% of the region’s jobs.
If you want to visit the Tongass, or ensure others get to experience this incredible place, you can take action by asking your Members of Congress to Support the Roadless Area Conservation Act. If passed, the Roadless Area Conservation Act would reinstate those important protections ensuring that the wonders of the Tongass will be around for generations to come.
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Would you like to write about public lands that you cherish? Please email Mary Jo Brooks at brooksm@nwf.org for guidelines.
