Ravencall Fall 2021 by Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

FALL 2021

Ravencall

In This Issue...

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people who have been the stewards of the forests and waters of this land since time immemorial, and on whose land we each do our work and live our lives.

Life in the mountains

Staff

Meredith Trainor........... Executive Director Maggie Rabb.................... Deputy Director Raylynn Lawless............ Office Manager Chiara D’Angelo............. Tongass Forest Program Manager Heather Evoy.................. Indigenous Engagement Lead Shannon Donahue......... Upper Lynn Canal Organizer Aaron Brakel................... Inside Passage Waters Program Manager Katie Rooks..................... Environmental Policy Analyst Matt Jackson................... Climate Organizer Conor Lendrum.............. Development & Outreach Associate Lauren Cusimano........... Communications Lead

Mission

To protect the special places of the world’s largest temperate rainforest, promote conservation, and advocate for sustainability in human use of natural resources. Inspired by the land, wildlife, cultures, and communities of Southeast Alaska, SEACC strives to ensure this interconnected whole exists for future generations.

Board of Directors

Katie Ione Craney................................. President, Haines Natalie Watson..................................... Vice-President, Juneau Bob Schroeder....................................... Treasurer, Juneau Steve Lewis............................................ Secretary, Tenakee Springs Chloey Cavanaugh............................... Juneau Grant Echohawk................................... Ketchikan Clay Frick............................................... Juneau Steve Kallick.......................................... Seattle Bart Koehler.......................................... Juneau Ray Sensmeier...................................... Yakutat Naawéiyaa Austin Ray Tagaban........ Juneau Stephen Todd........................................ Wrangell Wayne Weihing.................................... Ketchikan

Contact

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council 2207 Jordan Avenue, Juneau, Alaska 99801 907.586.6942 | info@seacc.org | seacc.org

The Ravencall is a publication of SEACC

Editors: Conor Lendrum and Lauren Cusimano Designer: James K Brown | brownandblue.design Cover: Aurora borealis in Haines Photo by Michele Cornelius

5 6 7 8 9

photo by Josh Miller

Logging and mental health

photo by Seth Ballhorn

The pull of plant knowledge

SEACC archive photo

Mariculture in Southeast AK

photo by Conor Lendrum

Sustaining legacies

photo by Rach Teo on Unsplash

With many thanks

SEACC archive photo

Gear UP! Wear your love for the Tongass, Inside Passage, and SEACC on your sleeve! Head over to www.seacc.square.site to purchase SEACC mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, hats, and more!

Ravencall | Fall 2021

SEACC archive photo

Executive Director’s Note What a year.

Additionally, the government would announce that the USDA would assemble a team to consult with Tribal governments and Alaska Native corporations and work with regional rightsholders and stakeholders to allocate up to $25 million of additional funding — uplifting integrated sustainable economic development already under way in the region.

2021 seemed like it would surely bring hope. Little did we know how much hope it could bring. First the starkly hopeful inauguration of President Joe Biden. Vaccines rocketed from conceptualization to arms. Then Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.” We began reopening our communities and had a sunnier Southeast Alaskan summer. Hope was cracking through the gloom. We could see the other side.

I looked at my dog. “Did we just win?” I asked.

For many, 2020 brought a seemingly endless cycle of suffering. We pivoted, again and again, running our organizations remotely while navigating important justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion conversations. And we held our breath as we awaited presidential results — breathless, fearful, and hopeful.

Then, on July 14, I got news the USDA would announce they’d repeal the socalled Alaska-specific roadless rule — the Trump and Dunleavy-era rule which specified there would be no Roadless Rule for the state, just a total exemption. The national rule, the real rule, would stay in place. This is a goal SEACC and partners have advocated for since the process was announced in 2018. I heard these words, looked at the arm holding my phone, and saw goosebumps. But not only would the bogus rule be repealed, the USDA would announce an end to large-scale, old-growth logging on the Tongass National Forest — a long-sought goal since … forever.

We did. If the USDA fulfills its commitments, and the public process goes to plan, then July 15 has become an inflection point in the long history of the Tongass — one in which so many of you played a significant role. You wrote letters. Attended hearings. Testified on behalf of our forest and region in D.C. Funded advocacy work. Engaged your friends and family in the fight and if all goes according to plan, you will have prevailed. We learned two things were decisive in making this decision. First: The leadership, advocacy, and resolve of 12 Tribal governments of Southeast Alaska, who spoke out firmly against the complete removal of the Roadless Rule, and who demanded to have their sovereignty respected. We are incredibly grateful to the Tribal leaders who spoke out, traveled to D.C., partnered with members of the Tongass Coalition, and advocated for their home.

Meredith Trainor, SEACC Executive Director

Second: Overwhelming public support. A whopping 96% of commenters asked to maintain the national rule — news SEACC broke after a FOIA request we submitted. A paltry 1% of 15,000 commenters favored total removal of the national Roadless Rule. That’s 96% to 1% in a time of unprecedented partisanship. Now, the Biden Administration will be about capitalizing on that hope and making sure these decisions are real and lasting. As we settle into fall in Southeast, fishing and hunting, processing berries and mushrooms, and moving into the rituals of autumn, we at SEACC remain so deeply, immensely grateful to get to do this work with each of you. And we look forward (with hope!) to what we’ll accomplish together in the years ahead. Meredith

New Staff Spotlight Hi, I’m Lauren!

I have landed my dream job— Communications Lead at Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. Let me tell you why. I have a heavy journalism and content background, but my personal interest has for many years been in conservation. As a public land and wildlife fan, I’ve traveled cross-country (Alaska is my 47th state) visiting national and state parks. I’ve volunteered with the National Park Service at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument as a ranger and content creator and cared for burrowing owls with Audubon Southwest. I’ve had clients like Tennessee State Parks, Arizona State Parks, and Niagara Falls USA. But I’ve been searching for a

photo by Michele Cornelius

job where I could truly combine my journalism training with my passion for wildland. Joining SEACC ended a 10-year search for me. I still haven’t processed how my “job” is writing, posting, editing, and communicating on behalf of irreplaceable old-growth and waterways, and the people of the forests, waters, and land of Southeast Alaska. My goal as Communications Lead is to help shine more light on this incredibly special place. I’m lucky and grateful to now be living in Juneau after moving this summer from my home of 25 years — Phoenix, Arizona. Yet Southeast Alaska, the lands and home of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people, is more beautiful than I have the room to describe here.

Lauren Cusimano, SEACC Communications Lead

Looking ahead, when I’m not “working,” I’ll be off exploring my new home and looking forward to meeting many of you as I do. Ravencall | Fall 2021

When I Look at These Mountains,

I See Life by Shannon Donahue

At the northern

reach of Southeast Alaska, one of the longest, deepest fjords in North America stretches its watery tentacles into a rocky landscape, tickling the land with its brine. Lynn Canal splits into Chilkat and Lutak inlets, meeting the Chilkat and Chilkoot rivers. Eulachon, trout, Dolly Varden, char, and five species of Pacific salmon make their way up the Chilkat and Chilkoot watersheds to carry out their roles in an ancient lifecycle, nourishing everything in this landscape, perpetuating life as they spawn, die, and give their bodies to feed other lifeforms. The Chilkat Valley just may be the most biologically diverse valley in all of Alaska. The temperate hemlock-spruce rainforest mixes with paper birch and giant black cottonwood; the mountains host the most genetically diverse mountain goat population in North America; black and brown bears find their niches, black bears seeking forest cover, while brown bears roam from the wide, braided, salmon-filled rivers and shorelines up to the alpine for berries, and back down again as the salmon run late into the fall and early winter. The rare mountain lady slipper finds just the right conditions to plant its toes in the glacial till and show off its elaborate flower. At the heart of all this diversity is a dynamic, interconnected hydrology. The interaction of glacial ice and meltwater with the landscape stretching back 11,000 years to the last ice age creates ideal conditions for a much later salmon run. The Chilkat River flows from glacial sources high up in the steep mountains. Where the Chilkat, Tsirku, Klehini, and Kelsall rivers now run, glaciers flowed, scouring the earth beneath them, pushing rock, gravel, and sediment to the valley bottom. Beneath the rivers,

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gravel layers measure 200 to 800 feet deep. Water flows through this gravel, an underground aquifer connected with surface waters.

at the headwaters, high up Glacier Creek near the Canadian border, where meltwater from Saksaia Glacier feeds the Tsirku and Chilkat rivers.

Two international corporations, Where the Tsirku, Klehini, and Chilkat Japanese smelter company DOWA, and rivers converge, the Tsirku and Canadian Constantine Metal Klukwan alluvial fans force Resources, are drilling the Chilkat into a narrow holes in the mountains, channel that runs looking for copper, faster than its zinc, gold, and silver braided tributaries. to enrich their Near the Tlingit shareholders. Chilkat Indian Before they even Village of develop a fullKlukwan, blown mine, the underground Palmer Project’s waters percolate exploration to the surface, activities threaten heated by the the pristine, lifeearth’s energy and A Mountain Lady’s Slipper Orchid giving waters of the friction, insulated Cypripedium montanum Chilkat’s tributaries by layers of gravel. photo by Jessica Plachta with acid mine drainage and Warm upwellings interact heavy metals that can leach into our with the fast-flowing Chilkat, clean water once exposed. They want to resulting in a river system that remains discharge wastewater where it will likely partially ice-free throughout the winter resurface in these tributaries. Copper months, and beckons a run of chum can interfere with salmon’s ability salmon in November — long after most to find their natal streams, selenium of Southeast’s other salmon runs have can cause deformities in fish, and acid ended. mine drainage is similar to battery acid, The Chilkat’s late salmon runs draw leaching into our water forever, once up to 3,000 bald eagles — the largest unleashed. seasonal gathering of its kind in North With your support, SEACC and our America. Photographers flock from partners are working to protect the all over the world to capture images Chilkat Watershed and its communities of frost-glazed trees peppered with from destructive mining impacts, so the a dozen eagles, and film dynamic unique hydrology that supports all this interactions as eagles compete for the life can continue to do so. best fishing spots. The American Bald Eagle Foundation hosts a Bald Eagle A Constantine representative once Festival, celebrating the watershed’s remarked, “When I look at these abundance, extending the local tourism mountains, I see minerals.” We who economy long after the summer tourists cherish the Chilkat Watershed look at have migrated back south. these mountains and see life worth The lower watershed enjoys protection as the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, but an existential threat looms

protecting for future generations. Shannon Donahue is SEACC’s Upper Lynn Canal Organizer

We As Alaskans Can’t Log Our Way to Mental Health by Meredith Trainor

In summer 2020,

I found myself prioritizing outdoor time as a coping mechanism for pandemic life. I took advantage of the wonderful publicuse cabin system in the Tongass as I sought to replace out-of-state travel with hyperlocal adventures on our 40-mile road system, and to release the stress and tension of leading a small organization like ours during such “unprecedented times.” Exploring the Tongass and my own backyard more deeply was an immensely fulfilling option, and as I meandered down myriad new-to-me trails to seek out the tucked away cabin retreats of the National Forest, often with just my dog Ruby by my side, it was hard not to think about the role that nature plays in healing broken hearts, reassuring unsettled minds, and otherwise grounding us in our human element. Over my many days and nights of knitting and conversation, snowshoeing and reading, skiing and whiskey at cabins scattered throughout the National Forest system, I thought about the role nature can play in our mental health. I found my mind returning again and again to the bizarre contradiction that is Alaska’s Mental Health Trust Land Office, and the role the state should play in supporting mental health — and mental healthcare. In a 2020 article, the American Psychological Association noted, “Exposure to nature has been linked to a host of benefits, including improved attention, lower stress, better mood, reduced risk of psychiatric disorders, and even upticks in empathy and cooperation.” Much of the research on the effects of nature on mental health has focused on the role that what one might call deeply green spaces — forests — play in ensuring mental resilience. As a result, some scientists

photo by Michele Cornelius

have begun to champion the inclusion of mental health benefits in ecosystem service assessments — the assessment of the quantifiable monetary value that natural systems provide to humanity. The thinking is: In knowing the real dollar value of these “services,” we might get better at protecting them and ensuring their continuation to avoid paying to replace those services artificially. Here in the Tongass we might do well to assign an economic value to the benefit or service that that healthy forests provide for the mental health of nearby communities, and, by extension, could even begin to prioritize protection of forests with those real values in mind. This brings me back to Alaska’s Mental Health Trust Authority. A nifty little video on the Mental Health Trust website explains in cheerful tones how the Mental Health Trust was created in 1994 because the state of Alaska was sued by beneficiaries who asserted the state was not living up to its responsibilities to provide support to mentally ill or developmentally disabled citizens. The settlement that resulted created the Mental Health Trust Authority — a state corporation that was granted 1 million acres of land and $200 million. Increasingly, you may be familiar with the Mental Health Trust Land Office — given how often it’s in the news. When it comes to mental health in Alaska, the Trust determines how we pay for it. Most often when Alaskans hear about the Trust, it’s because of their own Land Office logging lands it was given at inception, to help generate funding

Shelter (and a cool photo op) under old growth SEACC archive photo

for its work. Or, as of late, because the Trust is trading its land for new federal land through a series of convenient swaps, in which the Trust trades what tends to be already impacted lands (or more urban lands that would not likely be logged) to the Forest Service in exchange for present-day National Forest lands that were previously untouched. Logging National Forests has a real impact on the mental health and well-being of tens of thousands of Southeast Alaskans, so logging forestland to pay for the mental health that now needs care seems more than a bit out of synch. And yet under Alaska’s complex Mental Health Trust model, we find ourselves cutting down and destroying the most organic, self-sustaining, preexisting, naturally occurring foundation for mental health — to provide for mental healthcare. As COVID cases rise again, and we continue to prioritize time outdoors, let’s also keep a close eye on the activities of the Mental Health Trust Land Office — but only after time spent out on the land, of course. Meredith Trainor is SEACC’s Executive Director

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It’s Really About Healing The Pull of Plant Knowledge by Heather Evoy

Thimble berries photos by Josh McNally

Traditional Plants & Foods Symposium able to teach it to those who come after in Ketchikan. Titled “Remembering us. Who We Are,” it was sponsored The symposium was also about by the Ketchikan Indian the pandemic drew me to plant people, advocacy. Currently, there Community Social and plant knowledge. is a commercial sac roe Services Department, herring fishery in Sitka There is a subtext when looking at the Kaasei Training being mismanaged power coming from connecting to the & Consulting, by the state. Fish land through plant knowledge. It’s and the Seventh are being killed about knowing how to heal yourself, Generation Fund for the eggs, your loved ones, and your community for Indigenous which are sent to through medicine found right outside Peoples. The foreign markets. your door. theme was clear: In the meantime, “We believe that Together, plant people are building an it’s impacting our our plants and army of fierce advocates for this special ability to traditionally foods are essential place I am lucky enough to call my SEACC archive harvest herring eggs in a to who we are as tribal photo home — Southeast Alaska. sustainable way. Together, peoples.” There, an elder I say home because I have always been we acknowledged the Herring mentioned that every inch of on and utilized the land to some degree Rock Water Protectors. Those inspired the Tongass National Forest has been — from my early years digging clams to act may attend an upcoming Alaska touched by Tlingits. Think about that. and cockles with my grandmother to Board of Fisheries meeting in January. now harvesting devil’s club as medicine He spoke of how important human There, we can stand in solidarity with interaction with the land is. When you for friends. Traditional harvesting our relatives in Sitka. brings joy. I pick salal berries, known as pick a blueberry, two come back. In The symposium was also about balance. the colonial roots of conservationism, laughing berries because when picked, When using healing plants, the right separation of humanity from the land the bottom opens and seems to smile. properties must be in equilibrium. was key to the mission at large, I pick blueberries. There’s Plantains have great healing which denies the fact that nothing more I love than properties but are not antibacterial, people are interwoven days of blue fingers. so skin heals before an infection is with the land —just That and connecting cleared. Conversely, wormwood has as their ancestors with my kids while antimicrobial properties to keep were. The work harvesting. wounds clean. But plant medicine can of detangling With COVID fresh colonialism from be simple, too. My kids know to pick in our memories conservationism yarrow to stop the itch from bug bites. and cases rising must act to Overall, it’s really about healing. again, we realize abandon this Pharmaceutical companies are not what social dichotomy and about healing, they’re about profit. creatures we are: acknowledge Plant knowledge is about curing. And how distancing that to conserve we can take back our power to heal isolated many the land is to ourselves and our community. people. Now, it’s also conserve our Picking huckleberries photo by Heather Evoy For more information about the Herring important to realize relationship with it. Rock Water Protectors and the Alaska how plants can bring Symposiums like the one Board of Fisheries meeting, see bit.ly/ people together, outside, to safely in Ketchikan are important. Oral herringprotectors and bit.ly/bofmeeting connect with the environment and to narratives help connect us with the harvest together. Heather Evoy is SEACC’s Indigenous Engagement surrounding plant world. We need Lead. It is truly an honor for her to write this This summer I attended a plant to learn traditional plant knowledge because, on the flip side, we need to be convention — the second annual article on the Tlingit Aaní of the Aak’w Kwáan.

This past year,

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The Recent Growth of Mariculture in Southeast Alaska by Lauren Cusimano

courtesy of Salty Lady Seafood Co.

For those new to the term,

But what are people saying? Salty Lady Seafood Co. is operating on less than one acre at Bridget Cove in Juneau. The actual salty, eponymous lady is Meta Mesdag, who moved to Southeast after marrying her Juneauraised husband in 2012. She started the oyster farm in 2016 (though she hopes to add kelp soon).

mariculture refers to an industry where food and other products are derived from the cultivation of marine life. Think shellfish, seaweed, kelp, and oysters. This can have environmental and economic benefits. And here’s how. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), mariculture is “sustainable aquaculture” — like agriculture, but water-based farming. Alaska has 76 operations, spanning 1,631 acres, fitting NOAA’s definition. Southeast specifically has seen major growth in this niche industry over the past five-plus years. In fact, 2021 saw the inaugural Shellfish and Seaweed Festival, an online event established by Sea Grant Alaska. There’s also the newly formed Alaska Mariculture Alliance (AMA) and Alaska Mariculture Initiative (AMI) project that’s part of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF): the Wrangell-based Alaska Mariculture Task Force.

Mesdag stresses how water-based farming supports tourism and diversifies the local economy, but also wants to highlight environmental advantages.

photo by Meta Mesdag

Alaska Public Media notes state government established the task force in 2016 with the goal of growing a shellfish and seaweed farming industry pulling in $100 million annually. Aquaculture sales totaled $1.4 million in 2019, according to NOAA. that dropped to $1.08 million in 2020, due to COVID, according to the Anchorage Daily News. But it’s no deterrent. Because now there are roughly 35 pending applications for aquafarms, and AMI hopes to grow the industry to $1 billion in the next 30 years.

photo by Conor Lendrum

“I think it’s going to be really good for everybody as long as people are willing to embrace it,” Mesdag says. She says there’s a long way to go in educating people on what mariculture actually is, in addition to its benefits.

“You’re growing products that’re here, locally sourced, a zero-input way of farming with very little waste,” she says. “It’s a really ecofriendly way to go.”

She also believes Southeast may be the next hot spot for mariculture — though not literally. She mentions the recent mass die-off of California shellfish due to extreme heat. “People down south that are having those issues are going to recognize that there are opportunities up here,” she says. “They can have farms here that they used to be able to have in other locations but because of climate change, it’s going to be more challenging in other places.” And there’s another benefit to raising these invertebrates.

“Oysters can positively impact ocean acidification by helping bind and absorb some of that stuff out of the water,” she says. “It actually leaves the environment in a better spot than it was, to begin with … because of how oysters work.” That’s confirmed by Tamsen Peeples, a Southeast Alaskan since birth and a kelp mariculture specialist since 2015 — when there weren’t many aquacultural farms at all. “Oysters are filter feeders,” she says, explaining how oysters pump water through themselves while filtering out plankton, creating cleaner water, helping with oxygen-depleted zones. “They’re basically a living strainer.” Moreover, kelp farming creates habitats for other species, like the surprise village of sea cucumbers discovered under a farm in Ketchikan. To Peeples, the positive effects are numerous. Aquafarming is, “Not consuming any arable land, not consuming any water, doesn’t need fertilizer, grows naturally as it would wild.” There are more economic benefits to spotlight. “Kelp farming is winterbased, kind of the off-season for commercial salmon fishing,” she says. “It’s a great way for fishermen to diversify their revenue.” But she stresses the industry’s infancy. “The biggest downside to mariculture is that it is so nascent. We don’t really understand what impacts larger operations will have,” she says. “I suspect, as a marine biologist and personally, that a lot of it is going to be positive — the fact is that we just don’t know.” But Peeples seems confident the unknown factor is nonthreatening. “I look forward to seeing all the positive impact it’s going to have,” she says, “both environmentally and economically.” Lauren Cusimano is SEACC’s Communications Lead

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photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

We are proud and grateful to our donors and stronghearts to have not one but two

awesome ways to give to SEACC to sustain us for the long-term!

The SEACC Action Fund The SEACC Action Fund is exactly what it sounds like – a critical, accessible reserve fund that helps support and make possible our most essential actions. Whether that’s risking an unfavorable settlement to take on the State of Alaska (and their attorneys’ fees), as with our recent, successful No Name Bay defense, or hiring an experienced, key staff member when an attack like the Roadless Rule pops up or the opportunity of a friendly administration comes along – the SEACC Action Fund ensures that SEACC will always be able to pivot to (and provide funds and support for) the essential work of defending our historic wins and championing future partnerships in the exact moment when they are needed most. The Action Fund is SEACC’s board-managed financial reserve, set aside in a quasiendowment structure, but still accessible in times of great need. The Action Fund was born of the foresight of long-time SEACC leaders like Dixie Baade, whose generous initial gift sought to ensure a secure future for the Tongass. She gave to SEACC knowing that her gift would enable us to engage as needed when the moment called for action. Those who specified the newlynamed Action Fund as the recipient of their thoughtful and carefully planned gifts knew they were supporting a future they may not live to see, but one that, because of their generosity, they will always be a part of.

Think of SEACC as you plan for the future Contact Deputy Director Maggie Rabb at maggie@seacc.org or call 907-586-6942 to take your next step and visit seacc.org/legacy to learn more.

The RJ Gordon and RT Wallen Fund for SEACC To our great pleasure, in summer 2021, RJ Gordon, RT Wallen, and Lynn Wallen thoughtfully endowed a complementary long-term fund in SEACC’s name at the Juneau Community Foundation! This endowment is another great avenue available to our donors, as well as those who may decide to commit to a legacy gift to SEACC in the future. This endowment is a different species than the Action Fund, though its intent is the same: to ensure that SEACC continues to exist for the long (and longest) term. The RJ Gordon and RT Wallen Fund for SEACC is a longterm investment in SEACC’s future: a formal endowment whose core investment will generate an annual percentage for regular and reliable use by SEACC as we work to provide for our organization’s annual budget. As the endowment becomes larger through donations by those wishing to make a gift to The RJ Gordon and RT Wallen Fund for SEACC, the annual distribution will grow as well. We are deeply grateful to RJ Gordon, RT Wallen, Lynn Wallen, and many others for their vision and their leadership gifts as we continue to embark on our next fifty years!

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Long after we are gone, this endowment allows us to keep on giving to SEACC. —Lynn Wallen

Lynn and Skip

courtesy of Lynn Wallen

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There was a SEACC board member named Dixie Baade who left a legacy gift to SEACC in the early years. She lived in Petersburg. The money was kept in a separate account and at a certain point we needed to fight hard to protect particular Tongass wildlands, and we thought ‘what would Dixie want us to do with her money?’ And we used the money to wage a successful fight. I think it’s a great way to look at a legacy gift — being able to actually protect real places that the gift giver cared about. — Katya Kirsch

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❞

Thank You, Business Partners!

Support SEACC’s Work Today

Rainbow Glacier Adventures | Haines

Baranof Wilderness Lodge | Sitka

Southeast Exposure | Ketchikan

Glacier Bay Sea Kayaks | Gustavus

Tongass Kayak Adventures | Petersburg

photo by Phillip Gladkov

Join us

Art Matters | Juneau

✍

A healthy Southeast Alaska is a healthy future. Share $35 or more with SEACC today to keep old-growth standing and wild waters clean. See seacc.org/donate.

☞ Sustain us

National Roadless Rule Announcement!

As practice makes a master, so too do small donation add up to big differences.

Southeast Alaskans mobilized when the Trump administration moved to repeal the National Roadless Rule from the Tongass National Forest in 2019. This summer President Biden’s administration announced it will seek to reinstate the rule, bringing back essential protections on the Tongass.

In 2019, 96 percent of Southeast Alaskans spoke in favor of protections. Now we must raise our voices once again, to affirm this reinstatement, and to show our hearts are still where they were two years ago and beyond.

Plan for the Long Term

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Look to the future, like our friends on Page 8, and pledge a portion of what you can’t take with you to SEACC. Reach out to Deputy Director Maggie Rabb (maggie@seacc.org) to learn about Stock Donations, IFQs, or how best to make your legacy the Tongass’ legacy or visit seacc.org/donate.

This administration will be holding another comment period that will begin this fall. SEACC will be sending out action alerts and keeping you up-to-date on all the latest opportunities for the Roadless Rule comment period (and the Southeast Sustainability Strategy). For now, visit seacc.org/roadless to help President Biden bring roadless protection back to the Tongass.

Thank You, to Our Volunteers! We’re a grassroots organization, then, now, and always, and these volunteers have stepped up during difficult times to keep our work going.

Ryland Bell, Father Séamus Finn (OMI), John Sonin, Hunter Mallinger, Tisa Becker, Kaitlyn Conway, Luann McVey, Scott Pearce, Carol Race, Valerie Massie, Rachel Howell, Janalee, Jennifer Kardiak, Susana Osorio, Mike Tobin, Brita Mjos, Sofia Tall, Robin Laurain, Aaron Brakel, Dylan Janus, Elisabeth Dabney, Deborah Gravel, Hayden Kaden, Logan Smith, Honalee Elkan, Derek Poinsette, Matt Hamilton, Trixie Bennet, Naomi Michalsen, Zak Gruey, Paulette Moreno, Grant EchoHawk Ravencall | Fall 2021

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