Washington, D.C.- Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and 70 Senators and Members of Congress today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking the Department to reinstate Roadless Rule protections for the more than 9 million acres of public lands in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.The letter states in part:"We agree with the conclusion of the Administration and the Courts that the process undertaken by the previous Administration to revoke the Roadless Rule was rushed and opaque, and that it ignored the input of Alaska Native Tribes and local communities. That is why we were encouraged by the Department's July announcement that it would be fully reinstating the Roadless Rule as part of the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy (SASS), which rightfully refocuses agency resources on higher-value restoration and recreation initiatives over historically wasteful and destructive logging projects."

The original Roadless Rule was implemented in 2001 with widespread public support for protecting our nation's most pristine public lands, including the millions of acreage of old growth forest in the Tongass National Forest. In October 2020, the Trump administration decided to ignore the will of the overwhelming majority of Alaskans and remove Roadless Rule protections for the Tongass. Over a year later in November 2021, under President Biden, the USDA announced it was taking the first steps to reverse the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule and restore the eliminated protections.

The letter continues:"The SASS and Roadless Rule reinstatement would also support the cultural and subsistence needs of local Indigenous communities. Roadless areas of the Tongass are traditional homelands to Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Alaska Native communities who rely on undisturbed lands and waters for their culture, subsistence, and livelihoods. We trust that under your leadership, the Department will honor the request of Alaska Native peoples to protect the Tongass and work with them to implement the priorities of Indigenous groups, including full government-to-government consultation throughout the development of the SASS and the restoration of the Roadless Rule."

"We view lasting protection for the Tongass, our largest national forest, as a moral imperative. The Tongass is one of the most important forests in the world for carbon sequestration and the lifeblood for many Alaska Native communities. We are extremely thankful the Biden Forest Service has started taking steps to restore the Roadless Rule, and we are grateful that Senators Cantwell and Stabenow and Representative Gallego are leading the call to urge the administration to finalize this safeguard and fully protect this irreplaceable forest and all climate forests across our country," said Blaine Miller-McFeeley Senior Legislative Representative, Earthjustice.

"A thriving Tongass National Forest is critical for protecting the livelihoods, local economies, and wildlife that depend on it," said Kirin Kennedy, Sierra Club's Director for People and Lands Policy. "It's also one of our best tools for taking on the climate crisis that threatens all of our communities. Reinstating the Roadless Rules as part of the Alaska Southeast Sustainability Strategy is crucial to preserving these wildlands. We applaud these efforts to protect local Alaskans and the Crown Jewel of Alaska and the U.S. Forest Service System and ensure the Tongass will be preserved for generations to come."

"The Tongass National Forest is home to trees older than the United States, and we must protect these towering beacons of nature not only today but for hundreds of years into the future. Thank you to Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Ruben Gallego for your leadership on this critical issue and bravo to the tens of thousands of Americans who have urged the Forest Service to move quickly to reinstate Roadless Rule protections to the Tongass. For the sake of our climate and the wildlife that depend on this majestic wild space, we need the Forest Service to act quickly to reinstate these safeguards to the Tongass," said Environment America Public Lands Campaign Director Ellen Montgomery.

"Protecting the Tongass National Forest is an important and historic step in recognizing the role forests play in addressing the escalating biodiversity and climate crises," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife president and CEO. "Defenders of Wildlife applauds this welcome shift in priorities to restore protections of the region's priceless old-growth forests."

"We applaud Senator Cantwell and Representative Gallego and their colleagues in the House and Senate for continuing to press the Biden administration to take the steps necessary to ensure that industrial-scale, old-growth logging is a relic of the past in Southeast Alaska," said Kristen Miller, acting executive director at Alaska Wilderness League. "The Tongass is the economic engine of Southeast Alaska. It's a natural climate solution that benefits communities around the globe. It's also as essential now as it has been for thousands of years to Indigenous communities that rely on the forest for their cultural and subsistence traditions. That's why it's critical that America's largest national forest and one of the largest remaining temperate rainforests in the world remains intact."

"Protecting the Tongass and old-growth forests and roadless areas in Southeast Alaska is critical to combatting climate change. The Roadless Rule provides protection for a climate-resilient forest ecosystem, which will continue to be important for birds, fish, people, and local ways of life into the future," said Marshall Johnson, chief conservation officer, National Audubon Society.

"The Tongass National Forest is one of the planet's truly exceptional landscapes- one of the largest temperate rainforests on Earth, and a critical tool in our ability to mitigate the climate crisis. It's up to all of us who care about building climate resilience and affirming indigenous peoples to ensure that forests, like the Tongass, are protected from logging and road-building by making our voices heard. We are so pleased by the groundswell of support for restoring roadless protections to the Tongass from our partners, supporters, and the Tribes," said Josh Hicks, Senior Campaign Manager at The Wilderness Society. "In addition, we must make certain other sectors in the region's economy continue to thrive as a result of these protections. This is a unique opportunity to work side-by-side with the USDA and other stakeholders to focus on recreation and fishing while also investing in measures identified by Tribes and others to build Southeast Alaska's resilience. This is our chance to lock in a bright future for the Tongass and the people of Southeast Alaska."

Members of Congress signed-on to the letter include Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sen. Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-WA), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL), Rep. Gwen S. Moore (D-WI), Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-CA), Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA), Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Rep. William R. Keating (D-MA), Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Rep Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jan Shakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Sharice L. Davids (D-KS), Rep. Thomas R. Suozzi (D-NY), Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Rep. Jerrod Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).

For the full text of the letter, click here.

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