Tongass National Forest supervisor Earl Stewart will soon destroy the magnificent Wrangel Island rainforest to please his corporate masters. He proposes to log 8.3 square miles and construct 32 miles of sediment producing logging road. Why is he doing this? Mr. Stewart claims the SE Alaska timber corporations need a boost on profit which will strengthen the economy of the area.
Tourism is more important to the economy of the area than logging.
Many of the cedar and spruce trees that Stewart will allow to be killed and hauled to the mill were thriving when Columbus discovered America.
Mr. Stewart is accepting comments on the Wrangell Island timber sale draft Environmental Impact Statement until July 20, 2016. The EIS is posted online at the forest’s website. Hardcopies are available by calling 907-228-6281.
Future generations of kids deserve the opportunity to visit a rainforest. Once it’s gone it will be gone forever. Trees that are 800 years-old are not a “renewable resource.”
There should be some places in this world where money isn’t the controlling factor.
Dick Artley (USFS retired),
Grangeville, Idaho