Last week, the Biden administration restored protections for the world's largest intact temperate rainforest, reversing a Trump-era initiative that opened up millions of acres to road-building and logging. The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska covers 16.7 million acres — an area larger than West Virginia — and is home to old-growth Sitka spruce and cedars. Bald eagles swoop low over the forest's dense canopy. Deer, moose, and black bears roam wild, and salmon swim in the forest's streams.
Because the Tongass is a massive carbon sink, storing 8 percent of the total carbon in U.S. forests, it's often called the "lungs of the country." Locally, Alaskan Native tribes depend on the forest to hunt deer and moose, forage for medicines, and fish salmon. "It's just very important that we keep [the forest] intact," said Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake, a federally recognized tribe located on the forest's edge.
