Saving the Tongass

At 16.8 million acres, the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is America’s largest national forest, and contains some of the most intact expanses of temperate rainforest remaining in the world today. In addition, the Tongass is a key contributor to long-term sequestration and storage of atmospheric carbon. But for decades the Tongass has also been a major source of old growth timber. On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Dominick DellaSala, with the Geos Institute in Ashland, about the need to step up protections for the Tongass. DellaSala was among 200 scientists who recently sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak expressing their full support for a transition from old-growth to second-growth logging on the Tongass National Forest. We'll talk about how a rapid transition out of old-growth logging on the Tongass will serve as a model for other nations and provide a long-term boost for our climate in the future.

Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is President and Chief Scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section.