1. United States
2. Alaska
3. Letter

Block the South Revilla logging project and defend the Tongass National Forest from large-scale old-growth destruction. The Forest Service's Alternative 2 would authorize harvesting over 4,300 acres of old-growth forest on Revillagigedo Island — roughly 21 percent of the productive old-growth in the project area — despite the agency's own January environmental analysis finding it would harm subsistence, wildlife, and habitat. The Forest Service chose the option with the greatest damage. That's not a close call. The Ketchikan Indian Community, whose people have depended on this land for generations, is now in federal court to stop it. Gloria Ilsxilee Stáng Burns put it plainly: "Our connection to this forest is not symbolic. It is our food, our medicine, our spirit." Sitka black-tailed deer populations could feel the impacts of this logging for over a century. And with the federal government now moving to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule — which protects 45 million acres of federal land — the Tongass faces threats on multiple fronts simultaneously. The largest national forest in the country, and the largest temperate old-growth rainforest remaining in the world, deserves better than this. Use every tool available to halt the South Revilla project and oppose any rollback of Roadless Rule protections for the Tongass.