The Tongass National Forest is America's rainforest in repair.

It is a land of huge bears grown fat on salmon, eagles soaring endless skies, and 500-year-old trees standing silent sentry over a lush, verdant world. But the land is also checkered with fields of old-growth tree stumps – visible scars of an earlier time when the saws never ceased and Congress used taxpayers dollars to punch roads into the rainforest.

With more than half of its towering old-growth trees already cut, the Tongass is at a crossroads. Local, collaborative efforts to achieve a comprehensive plan for the forest are on the brink of success. But one timber company, Sealaska Native Corporation, wants to undermine these efforts and return to the old days of conflict and controversy. They're lobbying Congress hard to privatize and clearcut some of the most valuable public lands in the Tongass.

Tell Congress that our Tongass needs conservation and restoration, not more clearcutting.

Our Tongass is a distinct ecosystem, intricately balanced and sensitive to outside disruptions. Big Timber tipped the scales for too long – and the forest is still recovering.

Decades of clearcut logging have forced some hard lessons here: everyone in the Tongass depends on its continued health, from Alaska Natives to newcomers, from tourists to local sawmills. The League is engaged in a collaborative effort in the region – gathering local representatives from conservation, industry, government, and Native groups – to finally end the tug of war and develop a shared and durable solution for the forest. As you can imagine, discussions between these diverse groups are as fragile as the ecosystem itself.

But Sealaska is lobbying Congress to simply hand over some of the best public lands in the Tongass for its unfettered logging operations – no conservation included. That means new clearcuts of old-growth trees. If Sealaska gets its way, years of work could be erased and everyone who cares about this land must start from scratch.

Click here to tell Congress: Sealaska's bill would poison local and collaborative efforts which can achieve success for conservation and local rural communities.

Protection and wildlife restoration are necessary for any lasting solution for the forest. Our Tongass, unique and majestic, is too important to waste for short-term gains.

Thank you for all that you do,

http://www.capwiz.com/alaskawild/issues/alert/?alertid=13375191&external_id=10396.-1373691