Restoration in the Tongass

Sitka Conservation Society's Watershed Programs Manager, Scott Harris, teaches about restoration in the Tongass National Forest.

Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass national forests are sometimes referred to as salmon forests, producing all five species of wild Pacific salmon: king, coho, sockeye, pink, and chum.

About 45 percent, or 122 million, of these commercially harvested salmon relied on habitat managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

LINK (via:USDA)

The Tongass is America's Salmon Forest

Tongass 77 has faced difficulty in winning national support and has yet to find a sponsor in Congress, but advocates made public a letter signed by more than 230 scientists endorsing the plan and trying to give it a jump start.

LINK (via: Alaska Dispatch)

This is a once in a lifetime chance to proactively protect one of the last remaining intact salmon ecosystems on the planet and the world is starting to take notice.

A New Idea to Protect Wild Salmon -

Carl Safina from the Blue Ocean Institute signed on to the letter and explains why the Tongass 77 plan is so important.

LINK (via: National Geographic News)

The Forest Service's Addiction to Old Growth -

Sitka native Brendan Jones gives some local perspective to the Forest Service's warped priorities when it comes to what fuels the economic engine of the Tongass.

LINK (via: The Huffington Post)

Scientists Want Protection for Salmon in the Tongass -

If you want to see what the opponents the Tongass 77 plan have to say read this story.

Rep. Don Young, in a statement, said the "Tongass 77" proposal is "a fine fundraising tool, but is hardly legitimate public policy with any chance of seeing the light of day in Congress while I'm here."

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/06/10/2934340/scientists-want-protections-for.html#storylink=cpy

LINK (via: Anchorage Daily News)

Take Action!

Sign on to support the conservation of high value salmon and trout producing watersheds in the Tongass National Forest.

Alexander Archipelago wolf

Salmon are not the only species under threat in the Tongass.

Southeast Alaska is home to the Alexander Archipelago wolf, a  subspecies of gray wolves. However this wolf is being blamed for low deer harvest in two specific areas: Gravina Island and the Lindenburg Peninsula. In a recent ADFG meeting, it was voted to eliminate (by trapping) wolves from these areas.  this will not happen until 2014, during regular trapping season.

LINK (via: Tongass Conservation Society)

"It’s time for Congress to better protect the richest resource of the Tongass: wild salmon.”

That quote comes courtesy of Tim Bristol, Director of TU's Alaska program in regards to Tongass 77, a new TU campaign to protect 77 high value watersheds in the Tongass National Forest.

Here is a quote from the T77 pdf that sums it up:

"Researchers from the Alaska offices of the Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited used state-of-the-art GIS and conservation planning software to identify the watersheds they consider the "best of the best” for salmon and trout habitat from the hundreds of Tongass watersheds not currently protected at the watershed scale. The 77 high-value watersheds they identified, comprising some 1.8 million acres, are currently open to development. Based on their outstanding fish habitat, the highest and best use of these "Tongass 77” watersheds should be for the production of salmon and trout."

These 77 watersheds represent just 11 percent of the Tongass land base, but encompass about 22 percent of the total salmon and trout habitat of the Tongass National Forest. Additionally, the engine that is the commercial and recreational fishery of Southeast Alaska’s contributed nearly $1 billion to the regional economy and accounted for close to 11 percent of regional jobs in 2007. All that is at risk with several initiatives that would privatize large swathes of the Tongass for development and resource extraction, as well as dozens of hydroelectric dam proposals and new mining activity.

Be a part of this new campaign by heading over to the the campaign's website and reading the hard science to back up the claim that healthy, intact watershed systems provide more and better habitat for wild salmon and trout. Then sign on for better protection for the wild salmon of Southeast Alaska, the true standing crop of the Tongass.

LINK