In a strong bipartisan victory, the House of Representatives approved an amendment on June 16, 2004, that would prohibit tax dollars from being spent to build new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest. The amendment to the FY2005 Interior Appropriations bill was sponsored by Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and passed by a vote of 222 to 205.
Specifically, the amendment would prohibit the use of federal funds to plan, design, study, or construct forest development roads in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska for the purpose of harvesting timber by private entities or individuals. It was supported by a broad coalition of taxpayer and budget watchdog groups, sportsmen and conservationists.
The successful House vote comes at a time when the Tongass is under increased threat. Currently the Forest Service is moving forward with nearly 50 timber projects in roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest that until December 2003 were protected from commercial logging under the Roadless Rule.
Background
Alaska’s Tongass National Forest is part of the world’s last intact temperate rainforest and is our nation’s largest national forest. Centuries-old trees provide critical habitat for wolves, grizzly bears, wild salmon, bald eagles and other wildlife. During the last 45 years, the Alaska timber industry has logged over 1 million acres of old-growth forest and built 5,000 miles of logging roads in the Tongass. Approximately half of those forests affected were federal public land, while the other half consisted of state and native corporation land.
An often-untold story is the amount of money logging on the Tongass National Forest costs the American taxpayer. In 2002 alone, the Forest Service spent $36 million on the Tongass logging program and received only $1 million in revenue. Over the past two decades, taxpayers have lost more than $750 million to subsidized logging in America's temperate-zone rainforest.
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