Iowans Can Stop Tom Vilsack from Logging Tongass National Forest

CredoAction.com

Under the so-called “Vilsack policy,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has said he would personally review and approve applications to cut timber in the roadless areas of our national forests.

His first act? He wants to invite chainsaws into a protected roadless area Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is our largest national forest and one of our most precious wild places.

Vilsack's logging plan would fell trees in a pristine forest – cutting timber in an old growth valley that comprises the only intact watershed in the area.

According to the Wilderness Society, “American taxpayers have not only watched as the Tongass has been picked apart by road building and logging, they've paid for the privilege. The tab extends beyond $750 million over 20 years. In a single year alone, the Forest Service spent $36 million on the Tongass timber program and got back in revenues only $1 million.”

In fact, as Carol Cairnes, president of the board of the Tongass Conservation Society points out: “Cutting these trees will not even bring in half the money the Forest Service will spend building a road to get to the trees.”

Sign this petition today to tell Sec. Vilsack: Stop chopping down our national forests. Here's what it says:

“Secretary Vilsack, we write to ask you to reconsider your decision to allow the sale of timber in a protected roadless area of the Tongass National Forest. If you want to improve economic conditions in the area, direct the money you would spend just to open this land up to logging on more forward-thinking solutions like job training or more sustainable park maintenance projects. The roadless rule protects this beautiful rainforest and its wildlife – please don't sell out our protected lands.

CredoAction.com