Issues: Tongass
The Tongass National Forest covers most of Southeast Alaska and is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. This ecosystem is globally rare and has disappeared in many places because of unsustainable industrial logging. Although hundreds of thousands of acres of Forest has been cut for industrial timber on the Tongass, SCS and Southeast Alaskan communities have kept millions of acres from being logged. Today we work to save what we still have left and to restore what was harmed in the past to full ecological productivity.
Our Tongass programs include the work we do on-the-ground to protect and restore this great place. Check out all our Tongass programs area below.
Threats to the Tongass
The Sitka Conservation Society strives to protect the remaining old growth and advocate for wise and sustainable development of the forest as a whole.
Restoration
In the past, short-sighted logging operations clear-cut large swaths of old-growth forests in the Tongass. The scars left from the former cuts have grown into thick second growth, choking out habitat for deer, and road that were once used for hauling logs have blocked salmon spawning streams. Today, SCS is committed to restoring these areas to create a more healthy Tongass. We work collaboratively with a array of partners to restore and monitor these sites.
Stewardship
By working with land managers and the community to think creatively about habitat restoration, local economic development, timber, recreation, education, monitoring, contracting and more, we are working to ensure that local needs and environmental values are consistently integrated into the management process.
Wilderness
SCS was born out of the desire to protect parts of the Tongass forever as designated Wilderness Areas. Since then, we continue to steward our Wilderness and advocate for more Wilderness protection.
Related Posts:
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Stewardship in Action: Involving local students in restoration monitoring studies
At SCS, we know that getting people outside and participating in the stewardship of our environment is the single best way to realize our vision of a sustainable community living within the Tongass National Forest. Last summer, SCS, the Sitka Ranger District, and Sitka High School established a long-term monitoring study that will evaluate the [...]
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SCS Receives Grant from The National Forest Foundation to Use Local Wood and Plan Watershed Restoration Projects
The Sitka Conservation Society has been awarded a grant to partner with local organizations to build capacity for the use of Tongass young growth timber, and to create a long-term strategic plan for watershed restoration in the Sitka Community Use Area. The grant is awarded through the Community Capacity and Land Stewardship Program, a collaborative [...]
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How Does SCS “Develop Sustainable Communities” and Conserve the Tongass? Here is how we try to do it with the Fish to Schools program
The Sitka Conservation Society strives to blend sustainable community development with policy advocacy through projects and initiatives that demonstrate our ideals while building community and community assets. Along the way, we organize stakeholders to work together with a commonly shared vision. The ideal projects are those that bring people together working face-to-face/shoulder-to-shoulder to jointly and [...]
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We Love our Fishermen!
Check out this incredible video created by our good friend and local filmmaker, Hannah Guggenheim, documenting the “We Love our Fishermen Lunch” on 2/8/2012. WE LOVE OUR FISHERMEN! The Fish to Schools Program began as a vision at the 2010 Sitka Health Summit and with community support and leadership from the Sitka Conservation Society, we [...]
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Sitkoh River Restoration on-track
Check out a cool Google Earth tour and photos of the section of Sitkoh River to be restored! The Sitka Conservation Society is partnering with the Tongass National Forest, Trout Unlimited, and the Alaska Dept. of Fish an Game to restore salmon habitat on a section of Sitkoh River that was damaged by past logging [...]
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The Tongass is America’s Salmon Forest
The Tongass produces more salmon than all other National Forests combined. These salmon are a keystone species in the temperate rainforest ecosystems and hundreds of species depend on them– including humans. Salmon have been a food source in Southeast Alaska for thousands of years and continue to be the backbone of the economy. The salmon [...]
