Gravina Roadless Area comprises 39,393 acres of magnificent wildlands on central and south Gravina Island-highly valued for its pristine, biologically productive watersheds and wildlife habitat. Close enough to Ketchikan for hiking and hunting day trips, Gravina is a prime deer-hunting location for Ketchikan residents. This roadless area also contains Bostwick Creek and Bostwick Inlet, which Natives hold dear for historic, cultural and subsistence reasons. The Bostwick watershed provides families on nearby Metlakatla Indian Reservation with as much as 70 percent of their food, and the watershed is the area's only source of the black seaweed used in traditional basket weaving. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game rates Gravina Island subsistence activities as most sensitive to disturbance.
The proposed Gravina timber sale guarantees the loss of the island's wild nature. Road building and logging in this roadless area will cause deer populations to plummet and may exterminate the only wolf pack on the island, in violation of the Tongass Land Management Plan. Elders from four Native groups collaborated to produce a video that testifies to food gathering and other customary and traditional uses of Gravina Island and Bostwick Inlet and that documents the irreplaceable value of the area and its resources in sustaining both Native culture and Native livelihoods. More than 7,000 people from around the country commented on the timber sale, asking the Forest Service not to allow logging in this key Tongass roadless area.
